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.,V" 









THE INSIDE STORY OF 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 



The Inside Story 
of Austro- German Intrigue 

or 

How the World War Was 
Brought About 

By 
JOSEPH GORICAR 

Formerly of the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Service 
And 

LYMAN BEECHER STOWE 




Garden City New York 

DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 

1920 






COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY 

DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF 

TRANSLATION INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, 

INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN 



MAK 24 1920 



©CLA566184 



PUBLISHERS' NOTE 

All the facts in this book were supplied by Doctor 
Goricar who also wrote the original version of the text. 
This text was then largely rewritten, and put into its 
present form, by Mr. Stowe. Since, however, the in- 
formation, experiences, and arguments are Doctor 
Goricar's, it has seemed best to use the first personal 
pronoun in spite of the dual authorship of the book. 

The Publishers. 



AUTHORS' PREFACE 

The evidence presented in this book was gathered in 
the course of Doctor Goricar's fourteen years' service 
as a foreign representative of the Austro-Hungarian 
Empire. It demonstrates, we beHeve, that the Central 
Empires deliberately brought about the war — planned 
it, prepared for it, wanted it, and feared only one thing 
— that they would not get it. Why? Their aim was a 
new division of the earth — a redistribution of the eco- 
nomic wealth of the world. What other nations had 
they coveted — and proposed to take by the sword. 

How was this to be brought about? By the creation 
of an invincible Mittel Europa, separating Eastern 
Europe from the Western nations. 

Concretely, the plan called for the conquest of Con- 
stantinople, the "cornerstone of the earth," the taking 
over of the heirloom of Turkey, and thereby the land 
and sea routes to Egypt, India, and Oceania. 

The first feature of this programme was the weakening 
of Russia. Only a feeble Russia would permit herself 
to be shut off from the open sea to the south. Such 
weakening could be effected by conquest and partition 
only. This accomplished, the final denouement would 
be the domination of Africa with all its resources, and 
this overwhelming predominance would bring in its train 
the over-lordship of Australia and South America. 

The first step was to be a surprise attack on Serbia 
and Russia. Being unable to find — even after long 



viii AUTHORS' PREFACE 

search — any justifiable pretext for war, the Central 
Empires, over a series of years, notably in 1908, 1909, 
1912, 1913, and 1914, fabricated pretexts. If they had 
not found, in the assassination of the Archduke Francis 
Ferdinand, a most convenient excuse for war, the Foreign 
Office in Vienna would have continued its machinations 
against Serbia and Russia until it had succeeded in 
creating a casus belli. To unmask the plots of the 
Foreign Office at Vienna and show how it was the ad- 
vance agent of Berlin in this grandiose scheme for 
world domination is the purpose of this book. 

Fortunately, men and parties, in fact all the plotters 
and preachers of war against Serbia and Russia, have 
convicted themselves out of their own mouths. The 
authors have throughout allowed the conspirators to 
expose themselves, while they have sought to furnish 
the setting and atmosphere by giving occasional 
glimpses of the great stage on which the World War 
was rehearsed. 

Joseph Goricar. 
Lyman Beecher Stowe. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction. By Albert Bushnell Hart ... xi 

CHAPTER 

I. The Coming to Power of the Austro-German 
War Parties, 1906-1909— Their First Plot to 
Create a Pretext for War Against Serbia and 
Russia 3 

II. The Second Attempt of Austro-German Di- 
plomacy to Precipitate European War, 1909 
— How the War Plots Were Unmasked . . 28 

III. Austro-German Plans for the Conquest and 

Partition of Russia — Bismarck Effectively 
Opposes These Plans 49 

IV. The Ofener Hofburg War Conference, October, 

1912 — Bethmann-Hollweg Commits Ger- 
many to War, December, 1912 . . . 72 

V. Count Berchtold, Aehrenthal's Understudy, 
Concocts the Notorious Prochaska Affair — 
How the Third Attempt to Start the War 
Failed 100 

VI. Berchtold's Albanian Comedy — Prince Hohen- 

lohe's Mission to the Czar 130 

VII. Bethmann-Hollweg Predicts War Between 
"Germandom and Slavdom," April, 1913 — 
Austria's Ultimatum to Montenegro . . 147 



X CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

VIII. Tisza, Austria-Hungary's Man of "Blood and 
Iron," Comes to Power, June, 1913 — Austria- 
Hungary Urges Italy to Join the Central 
Empires in European War, August, 1913 . 167 

IX. Emperor Francis Joseph Pronounces World 
War Inevitable, May, 1914 — Tisza Counts 
on Half the German Army for War Against 
Russia, March, 1914 183 

X. Austria Selects Albania as the Cradle for the 
World War — The Recruiting of Volunteers for 
War in Albania, June, 1914 204 

XL Count Tisza Constructs a Casus Belli Out of the 
Archduke's Murder — The Final Conference 
Between the Arch-plotters of the World 
War — Kaiser Wilhelm, Archduke Francis 
Ferdinand,and Grand Admiral Von Tirpitz . 216 

XII. The Military Chiefs Assume Complete Control 
of iVustro-German Foreign Affairs — Count 
Forgach's Confession Explodes Theory of So- 
called "Critical Days" of World War . . 230 

XIII. Russian Mobilization as the Cause of the War 

— A Glimpse Behind the Scenes in Berlin 
During the First Three Months of the War . 245 

XIV. Mobilizing Half a Million Men in America- 

How the Austro-Hungarian Consulates Sec- 
retly Raised an Army Behind America's Back 266 

XV. The United States of Slavia— A Prerequisite 

for a United States of Europe 274 

Appendix 295 



INTRODUCTION 

The history of a great war is never written while it 
goes on or in the decades immediately following. Ar- 
chives are closed, the memoirs and private papers of 
participants are not revealed, the parties most inter- 
ested try to throw a cloud about the causes, origin, and 
progress of the contest. We are only now beginning 
to understand the Crimean War of 1854, and are still 
in grave doubt as to the responsibility for war and 
peace in the struggle between Japan and China of 
1904-05. 

The World War has proved an exception, for we al- 
ready know enough of the intimate reasons for the ac- 
tion of most of the great powers for a judgment on the 
ultimate responsibility, and even on the details of the 
period immediately preceding hostilities. Conquest 
and revolution have laid bare the written records. 
Generals and statesmen, in bickering with each other 
and trying to throw off unpleasant responsibilities, 
have furnished the evidence for their own condemna- 
tion. From month to month the tide of materials 
rises till mankind is at last able to pillory the sover- 
eigns, the leading statesmen, and military chiefs of 
Germany and Austria-Hungary, as the authors of this 
terrific world woe and the unscrupulous engineers who, 
for the salvation of mankind, were at last "hoist with 
their own petard." 



xii INTRODUCTION 

To make available for the public some of the accu- 
mulating knowledge with regard to the personal and 
national responsibility for the war is one of the pur- 
poses of Doctor Goricar. He has made himself master 
of many of the self-revealing books, articles, and 
speeches of the chief actors in the pre-war period. 
He has also made a personal contribution, drawn from 
his own experiences, on the official duties of the for- 
eign representatives and agents of Austria-Hungary. 
He is aided by acquaintance with public men who 
helped to frame the great decisions, and by intimate 
knowledge of the situation and aspirations of the mem- 
bers of the mighty Slav race. 

This book is therefore much more than a vivid state- 
ment of facts already known or surmised; it is a direct 
contribution of new views based on materials hitherto 
not accessible even to historical searchers. Every 
reader will feel that it is a living record of the conclu- 
sions of a man who has for years been in the thick of the 
complications and intrigues which he describes. It is a 
human document. 

A few words should therefore be said as to the per- 
sonality of the writer. Doctor Goricar is a Slovene; 
one of the few Slavs who were admitted by the German 
and Magyar heads of the foreign and commercial 
offices of Austria-Hungary to positions of responsibil- 
ity; a man of education, a man of spirit, a man of 
skill in consular affairs. Yet he could not descend to 
be the tool of those who employed him. After long 
service in consulates in many widely scattered places, 
including Belgrade, he was found so impracticable that 
he was finally transferred to the United States as a kind 



INTRODUCTION xiii 

of punishment. In this new capacity he became aware of 
the system of keeping the official record of Aiistro- 
Hungarians in the United States who would be needed 
when the great war came. Just before the struggle 
began he returned to Europe and soon left the service 
of Austria-Hungary forever. The most vital part of 
this book is made possible by his wide experience in 
many lands and his connection with public men who 
sometimes told him momentous truths. 

Not the least service is the revelation of the by-ways 
of diplomacy and influence habitually used by the 
Austro-Hungarian Foreign Office. The book abounds 
in incidents and conversations which show us the web 
of intrigue — the hired newspapers, the forged documents, 
the artificial treason trials, the invention of outrages 
upon Austrian officials in other lands. Without under- 
taking a systematic account of the methods of Aus- 
trian diplomacy, the book in every chapter discloses 
a secret, deceptive, and prejudiced habit of mind from 
which would spring nothing but harm to other nations 
and eventual ruin to the Hapsburg Empire. 

Doctor Goricar accepts as a fact the complicated and 
autocratic system of government in the former Austro- 
Hungarian Empire and its historical background; the 
narrative shuttles to and fro from Vienna to Buda- 
pest, just as the combinations of the policies of Germans 
and Magyars have oscillated. As a Slav, caught in the 
cogs of this machinery, his sympathies are always with 
that depressed portion of the population of the former 
empire. To appreciate his book one must keep in 
mind the fundamentals of the mighty structure which 
has now crumbled into fragments. The approach to 



xiv INTRODUCTION 

the war tragedy brings out the main elements in the 
strength and weakness of Austria-Hungary. 

In the first place, it has been a frontier land, set 
upon the easternmost edge of Roman Catholic Europe. 
In the second place, it has for ages been hemmed in 
between the Teuton, the Slav and the Turk, against 
whom it was a bulwark of Christendom. In the third 
place, it is made up of two central units, Austria with 
a population of 10,000,000 Germans (also 2,000,000 
in Hungary), and Hungary with a population of 
10,000,000 Magyars. Each of these units dominated 
a section of the Dual Empire, in which there was a 
Slav population of 17,000,000 in Austria and (with the 
addition of Bosnia and Herzegovina which were not 
strictly within the ofiicial boundary) 10,000,000 in 
Hungary; Rumanians, Italians, and some smaller ele- 
ments added about 3,500,000 more, mostly in the 
Hungarian section, making the total of the Empire 
about 51,500,000 in 1910. From these figures it will 
be seen that the Slavs were in the majority in the Em- 
pire, and also in each half of the Empire. Yet such 
intelligent and capable people as the Bohemians, 
the Galician Poles, and the Croatians were submerged 
by minorities, and compelled to accept domestic and 
foreign policies contrary to their interests and certain 
to lead to foreign war. 

Another element of the problem was the "Drang 
nach Osten,"^ which was the sequel of the long wars 
with Turkey, and which made Austria a focus of in- 
trigue and disturbance in the Balkans and eventually 
the enemy and obstacle of Russia. The Government 
of the Empire, notwithstanding the existence of elec- 



INTRODUCTION x^ 

tive parliaments, was practically in the hands of the 
hereditary nobility of Austria and of Hungary, acting 
through the governmental machine centred in Vienna 
in the person of the aged emperor, Francis Joseph, a 
machine usually called "The Monarchy." 

No one is more alive to the weakness, covetousness, 
and profligacy of that government than Doctor Goricar, 
for he views it from within. His theme, however, is 
not so much a discussion of the faults of the Empire 
as an examination of three fundamental questions: 
(1) The criminal policy which it pursued in foreign 
affairs, including the partnership with Germany in a 
far-reaching plan of conquest and spoliation; (2) The 
enmity alike of Germans and Magyars to the Slavs, 
whether within or without their empire; and (3) The de- 
liberate bringing on of the Great War to serve the 
arrogance and ambition of the ruling classes. 

I. The first of these three lines of treatment is based 
upon the belief that for many years Austria-Hungary 
and Germany have been conspiring to bring about a 
war to despoil Russia of territory and wealth and at the 
same time to make impossible a Pan-Slav union. 
Doctor Goricar goes back to 1854 to show that Germany 
was at that time engaged in such a policy. In that 
period, when Prussia and Austria were rivals, drifting 
into a war for supremacy in Central Europe, it is hard 
to believe that they were also co-conspirators watching 
the opportunity for an eastern war. It is, however, 
undeniable that in 1878 Germany came to the rescue of 
the Austrian cause, gave to Austria a right of occupa- 
tion which was expected to lead to annexation in Bosnia 
and Herzegovina, and pried Russia away from Turkey. 



xvi. INTRODUCTION 

This was followed by the break up of the Drei Kaiser 
Allianz; and in 1882 came the Triple Alliance with 
Russia outside and Italy inside. From that time it is 
undeniable that the two Central Powers had a common 
policy hostile to Russia; and that this pressure led Rus- 
sia to direct alliance with France and indirect alliance 
with Great Britain, thus constituting the Triple En- 
tente. 

How far the combination of the two powers aimed at 
the violent destruction of the Russian Empire it is 
hard to say. The direct evidence of Doctor Goricar 
makes clear that prime ministers and foreign ministers 
and emperors looked that way. We have abundant 
proofs from other sources furnished by the lurid argu- 
ments of the Pan-Germanists who were always talking 
about the fertile lands and commercial opportunities 
of western Russia. Doctor Goricar sees only aggression 
and fraud on the side of Germany and Austria; and 
good temper, love of peace, and a spirit of concession 
on the side of Russia. Perhaps the colours are too 
strong in both of these pictures. What the book in- 
disputably shows is that in 1908-09, and again in 
1913, the Austrians were for war and the Germans 
were right behind them. He makes it clear that the 
World War was postponed from time to time because 
of the rush of new conditions brought about by the revo- 
lution in Turkey, the Balkan wars, and the interference 
of western European powers which, however, he seems 
to consider was a minor element. 

II. The argument that the war was in essence anti- 
Slav is put with the fire and earnestness of a member of 
that gifted and distressed race. The book adds much 



INTRODUCTION xvii 

to the volume of evidence showing the unpleasant 
effect on the Dual Empire of the unexjDected victory of 
the Slavs against Turkey in the War of 1912. He rightly 
includes the Bulgars as essentially a Slav people. 
Emperor William increased the German army because 
of the new possibility of a capable Slav military force 
in the Balkans. The Serbs raised their heads proudly, 
and the neighbouring Slovenes and Croats and Bos- 
nians were aroused to a new sense of their degradation 
in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. From the point 
of view of the Magyar and the German such race and 
national elation was treasonable. As a matter of fact. 
Doctor Goricar makes it clear enough that they did 
not desire to be Serbs, but were simply on the watch 
for the opportunity to be free. No American who ac- 
cepts the principles of his own government can fail to 
sympathize with that desire and to feel that the re- 
pression practised by the Austro-Hungarian Govern- 
ment and the sympathy of Germany were contrary to 
justice and the interests of mankind. Nor can any 
American be indifferent to the picture of a future Slav 
federation inspired by our own success. 

III. The book was not written primarily to inves- 
tigate the causes of the World War, but it throws a 
searchlight on the whole matter by its inside history of 
the events of the half dozen years preceding the war. 
The absorbing narrative places before the reader in 
quick succession the proof that the German Court, 
the high officials of the Foreign Office, the general staffs 
of army and navy, had a complete understanding with 
the Austro-Hungarians confirmed by frequent meet- 
ings and joint plans of action. The whole narrative 



xviii INTRODUCTION 

converges upon the decision of Austria to smash Ser- 
bia for the unpardonable crime of showing to the world 
that men of the Serb race could combine, organize, and 
fight. 

That decision was reached long before the assassina- 
tion of the heir to the Imperial throne. It was backed 
up by the Germans from point to point. The dispatches 
printed in the appendices make it clear that the pre- 
tences of the German officials, that they were not aware 
of the text of the Austrian ultimatum as it was actually 
presented, were clumsy lies. It is further proved be- 
yond question that the cry about Russian mobilization 
was a camouflage. War was determined on; and it 
only remained, if possible, to put up some kind of paste- 
board excuse which would keep Great Britain out of the 
struggle. 

With all the conclusions of Doctor Goricar the reader 
may not agree. That the book is a valuable contribu- 
tion to the history of the rivalries and intrigues which 
preceded the war is certain. The lively style, the inter- 
est of the narrative, the personal touch, make it one of 
the essential books on the period. It also points out 
to the world the inevitable results of attempts to sup- 
press minority races in an empire, and of the destruc- 
tion of truth, honour, and human sympathy which come 
from a selfish, secret, and lying diplomacy. 

Albert Bushnell Hart. 



THE INSIDE STORY OF 
AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 



THE INSIDE STORY OF AUSTRO- 
GERMAN INTRIGUE 

CHAPTER I 

The Coming to Power of the Austro-German 
War Parties, 1906-09 

their first plot to create a pretext for war 
against serbia and russia 

1WAS Acting Consul General of Austria-Hungary 
at Odessa, watching the slowly gathering forces 
of the Russian Revolution which were to cul- 
minate a decade later when in October, 1906, 
Baron Lexa von Aehrenthal became Minister 
of Foreign Affairs of the Dual Monarchy. This 
was the crowning triumph of a long, ambitious, 
and arduous career. It placed Baron Aehrenthal 
practically at the helm of the Ship of State. In 
Austria the very existence of the monarchy and 
dynasty was dependent upon alliances with foreign 
powers. Hence the Minister of Foreign Affairs 
came to be in fact, if not in name, the head of 
the Government. Aehrenthal, both in personal 
characteristics and in antecedents, was typical 
of the modern type of Austrian diplomat. Through 



4 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

his Jewish father he was affihated with "Big 
Business"; through his mother, with the great land 
junkers of Bohemia. As a Slav I viewed his taking 
the helm with misgivings and even dread. He had 
been for ten years Ambassador to Russia. During 
this time he had become known in the inner circles 
of diplomacy as the chief alarmist regarding Pan- 
Slavism. With him it was a fetish, an obsession. 
Aehrenthal now became at once the foremost 
exponent of a plan which represented the revival 
of the youthful ambition of his aged emperor and 
which always came to the fore whenever Russia 
showed signs of weakness. This plan aimed at 
the conquest and partition of Russia with the aid 
of Germany as explained in a subsequent chap- 
ter. Thus was Austria to be strengthened both 
internally and externally and the Hapsburg throne 
given a firmer foundation. The plan, originated 
in 1854 during the Crimean War, had several times 
been laid before Bismarck, but each time he re- 
fused, as we shall see, to back it. It had been 
brought up again as recently as 1904-05 when 
Russia was weakened from her war with Japan. 
This time Kaiser Wilhelm refused the bait because, 
taking advantage of Russia's temporarily impotent 
condition, he had extorted from her a commercial 
treaty the terms of which were so ruinous to Russia 
and so favourable to Germany as in a sense to 
make Germany the real victor in the Russo- 
Japanese War. 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 5 

During the decade in which Aehrenthal was 
Ambassador to Russia he had made himself, as 
has been said, the greatest alarmist regarding the 
so-called Pan-Slav menace. Through the diplo- 
matic and military spy system, which he developed 
to a degree undreamt of by the Czar's government, 
he became intimately acquainted with Russia's 
resources, potentialities, available equipment, and 
weaknesses. Finally came the Russo-Japanese 
War, with the defeat of Russia. Aehrenthal be- 
came convinced that Russia was now weak enough 
to be defeated by the combined armies of Austria 
and Germany, provided the blow could be struck 
before she had time fully to recuperate. From 
this time it became his consuming passion to pre- 
cipitate a war with Russia. 

Upon Aehrenthal's accession to the Foreign 
OflSce in 1906, his scheme was adopted with avidity 
by a powerful Court camarilla and at the Ball- 
platz, and received also the sanction and the patron- 
age of no less a personage than the heir to the 
throne, the Archduke Francis Ferdinand. The 
plan, however, was useless unless the unqualified 
support of the German Kaiser and his army 
could be secured, as is evident from what follows. 
The Kaiser gave it his instant and whole-hearted 
approval and agreed to back it to the limit with 
his vast military resources. 

It is now easily seen why the Kaiser's backing 
was so readily secured. The Pan-German and 



6 THE INSIDE STORY OP 

"Mittel-Europa" ideas required the crushing of 
Russia for their reahzation. The Balkan Peninsula 
was the backbone of the proposed Central Euro- 
pean Empire. The Balkan States must either 
become the creatures of Berlin or they must be 
crushed. A strong and united Russia would never 
allow her small racial kinsfolk either to be absorbed 
or crushed by Austria or Germany. Therefore 
the crushing and partitioning of Russia were as 
essential to the grandiose Pan-German scheme 
fathered by the Kaiser as it was to the Austrian 
plan originated, or more properly revived, by 
Aehrenthal and fathered by the Archduke Francis 
Ferdinand. The war was to be brought about 
by picking a quarrel with little Serbia and then 
proceeding to crush her. This would, of course, 
bring Russia to her rescue and the real war would 
begin. This war would be fought with Russia, 
France, and Serbia on one side, and Germany, 
Austria, Turkey, and perhaps one of the other 
Balkan States on the other. Provided such a war 
was started before Russia recovered from the Russo- 
Japanese War, the outcome could not be doubted. 
Not more than six months after the close of the 
Russo-Japanese War the Croato-Serb coalition 
came into being. On October 4, 1905, forty 
deputies of the Diet of Croatia met at Rieka 
(Fiume) and adopted a resolution, since known 
as the Fiume Resolution, in which they laid down as 
a general political axiom the following principle: 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 7 

"Every nation has the right to decide freely and 
independently concerning its existence and its 
fate." This resolution was promptly endorsed 
by the twenty-six Serb deputies of Croatia, meet- 
ing on October 16, 1905, at Zadar (Zara), Dalmatia. 
The soul of this movement was the Dalmatian pa- 
triot, Franjo Supilo. 

Thus came to a close the long artificially stim- 
ulated hostility between Serb and Croat, and a 
new era, which menaced the intolerant dominance 
of the Austro-Magyar overlords, dawned. The 
Fiume Resolution created almost a panic of wrath- 
ful alarm at the Court and among the great nobles 
and the land junkers. This furnished fuel to 
Aehrenthal's fire. The war that he planned was 
to cure all internal ills and to keep the subject 
peoples where they belonged — under the heels 
of the ruling Germans of Austria and Magyars 
of Hungary. 

Before he had been in ofiice two months Aeh- 
renthal ordered me transferred from the Odessa 
Consulate to that of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. 
As a Jugoslav, speaking Serbian and intimately 
acquainted with both Russian and Balkan con- 
ditions, he apparently thought I could be useful 
to him in connection with his new Russian and 
Balkan policies. Accordingly, I was appointed 
Vice-Consul at Belgrade. It was my eighth post; 
I had served previously in Vienna, then Paris, 
Berlin, Bucharest, Jassy, Constanza, and Odessa. 



8 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

It was a bitterly cold morning of mid-winter 
when I left my mountain valley home in Styria 
in the Austrian Alps to go to my new post. It was 
still dark as my sled found its way through the 
narrow gorges along the river, but when we came 
out into the broad valleys the Alps in their white 
mantle of snow lay before us, serene and majestic. 
I took the train from the old Roman town of 
Claudia Celeja, named for the Emperor Claudius 
and long the home of the redoubtable Counts of 
Celje, to go through Zagreb by the shortest route 
to Belgrade. My journey through the realms 
of Francis Joseph gave me ample time for reflec- 
tion. Before reaching my destination I had to 
change trains no less than nine times. It was part 
of the policy of the Hungarian Government toward 
the Slavic province of Croatia to allow no through 
trains and to oblige all lines to converge in Buda- 
pest. All travellers from Trieste, Fiume, Dalmatia, 
or Bosnia, or in fact from any point in the southwest- 
ern portions of the monarchy, were hence obliged 
to go first to Budapest, no matter what their desti- 
nation. In my case this was very much as it would 
be had one to go first to Chicago in order to reach 
New York from Washington, D. C. Half frozen 
though I was from long hours on ill-heated trains, 
as I approached my destination I was thrilled as 
always at the prospect of new problems to face 
and a new country to learn. Before leaving Russia 
I had discovered that our new government had 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 9 

already begun to sow there the seeds of sedition 
and to add fuel to the revolutionary flames. I 
felt that our policy in Serbia would be at least as 
unfriendly. 

I reflected with whimsical amusement that, were 
our Foreign Ofiice familiar with the events of my 
early youth and training and the lasting impres- 
sions they had made upon my mind and heart, 
they might not have been so sure of my suitability 
for this particular mission at this critical time. 

As I reviewed my early youth I realized that 
there were three events in particular which had 
made a lasting impression upon my life. The 
first was a small Sokol tournament in a little 
village in southern Styria, the birthplace of my 
mother. The Sokol is a society among the South- 
ern or Jugoslavs which seeks to stimulate national 
pride and consciousness by means of athletic 
contests. As a boy I came to see this tournament 
on foot over mountain passes, and through pine 
forests. I was never so thrilled as when I saw my 
eldest brother march with the Sokols dressed as 
they were in snugly fitting drab uniforms, the coat 
hanging loosely over the shoulder to show the red 
shirt beneath. They went through their exercises 
on the drill ground with a skill and rhythm that 
would have done credit to the best-drifled soldiers. 
When I heard the speaker at the end of the meet 
say that all, old and young, must stand together 
to defend the sacred rights of our Slav nation, I 



10 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

was moved to tears. From that time I realized 
that I belonged to an oppressed people, and to do 
my part in the winning of our national rights has 
been the task nearest to my heart ever since. 

The second event which lastingly impressed me 
was the reading of a novel given me by my mother 
and written by her brother, Dr. Joseph Vosnjak. 
It was called: "Pobratimi," that is, "Brothers" — 
not brothers by blood but brothers bound together 
by a secret oath performed by mixing their blood 
and solemnly swearing to stand together through- 
out life for the highest ideals of their people and 
against all oppressors. The book depicted the epic 
struggle of my race against the German oppressors 
and made a profound impression upon me. 

The third such event occurred when my 
father brought me to Celje, farther down the 
river on which was my birthplace, to enter the 
gymnasium there. Perched like an eagle's nest 
upon a high cliff overlooking the town were the 
ruins of the mediaeval castle of the once-mighty 
Counts of Celje, the battlements of which had for 
centuries stood as a rampart against Turks and 
Germans alike. This was a wonderful, an inspir- 
ing sight to a mountain boy, but oh! the chagrin 
and disappointment when we were told that I could 
not enter the school because I did not know German, 
and the Government did not allow higher education 
in the Slovene language! Keenly as we felt our 
impotence my father and I were never drawn more 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 11 

closely together than when this blow fell upon us. 
Such is, I believe, the efifect of oppression the world 
over. These were the three decisive events of my 
early youth. 

After losing a year in learning German I finally 
entered the gymnasium. When I learned that 
the Slavs in Austria were numerically superior 
to the Germans and Magyars and the other races, 
and that beyond our borders they occupied a 
territory extending from the Adriatic to the Black 
Sea, from East Germany to the Pacific, and when 
I heard of our long record of fine achievement, 
both in peace and war, my blood boiled at the 
insulting effrontery of the Germans and Magyars 
in always referring to us as an inferior race. When 
the school authorities discovered that we students 
of the so-called inferior race had formed a secret 
alliance of opposition and defiance toward all who 
slighted and belittled our race, and that we were 
learning Russian in secret, they notified a number 
of us that our presence was no longer desired. 
Thus, in the eighth year of my studies, I was obliged 
to leave. Only through the insistence of my uncle, 
the author of "Pobratimi," was I finally allowed 
to take the matura, or final examinations, in a 
Slovene town of Carniola, 

In 1895 I entered the University of Graz to 
study law. Shortly thereafter, by order of the 
Vice-Governor, I was dragged from my studies and 
pressed into the army as a private to serve for 



n THE INSIDE STORY OF 

three years. My education entitled me to military 
service of one year only and after that to enter the 
school for reserve officers. Another uncle, Michael 
Vosnjak, for twenty years a member of Parliament 
and the organizer of the great cooperative banking 
system of Slovenia, vigorously intervened in my 
behalf and finally my military rights were grudg- 
ingly conceded by the Minister of War. 

I passed my year of military service in Prague at 
the time of the Czecho-Slav Ethnographical Expo- 
sition. This is the city which Alexander Grimm, the 
great Franco-German traveller, called the third most 
beautiful city in the world. It was a never-ending 
delight to wander through the narrow, crooked 
streets of this picturesque Slav city on the Vltava 
in the heart of Bohemia and of Europe. Its 
palaces overlooked the magnificent park and the 
ancient Royal Palace stood like a citadel on the 
top of a steep hill looking down over the hundreds 
of church spires of the old city. The magnificent 
parades of the Sokols and their tournaments on the 
heights of Belvedere where 12,000 of them went 
through their exercises with the unity of one man, 
the never-ending pageants of the Exposition in 
the park, the multifold art treasures displayed, 
and the Slavic plays given in the great National 
Theatre, w^ere a constant source of inspiration 
and delight to my thirsty soul. Here 1 seemed to 
see a whole people rising like a phoenix from its 
ashes — a people filled with vitality and energy 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 13 

and the radiant enthusiasm of youth but in con- 
stant grapple with the omnipresent and sinister 
forces of a hostile government. 

My military year finished I returned to the 
University of Graz in Styria. But here the Ger- 
manized student life with its copious beer drinking, 
its sabre duels, and its shallowness, combined with 
the insufferable arrogance of the German students, 
finally so disgusted me that I left. I resolved to 
leave the Austrian moral and intellectual prison 
and go out into the great world. As the best con- 
trast to that which I was seeking to escape I first 
went to Paris, the ville lumiere, and established 
myself in the Quartier Latin to study law and 
political economy at the Sorbonne and to seek in 
the art museums relaxation from my more sombre 
studies. It was in Paris that I came to realize 
that collaterally with the struggle between Slav 
and Teuton the furrows were ever being ploughed 
deeper between Teuton and Gaul. 

Up to this time educated exclusively in German 
schools and instigated to despise the very name 
of my Slav parents I felt that here in Paris I had 
completely broken the chains which the German 
drill masters had tried to fasten upon me for life. 
I had already learned to read the Slavonic Bible 
and I had learned the old Cyrillic characters. I 
had also, in violation of the law, mastered Russian. 
I procured some Russian books directly from St. 
Petersburg and took them home to read during 



14 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

my vacations. I read the voluminous "History 
of the Russian Empire" by Karamzin, the fables 
of Krilov, and the writings of Tolstoi, the great 
Slav apostle of peace. My Russian studies brought 
me some of the greatest revelations of my life. 
I was thrilled to discover how closely related was 
our Slovene language, spoken by only one and a 
half million people, to the tongue of the great Slav 
Empire. Although our ancestors had left Russia 
sixteen hundred years before our language had re- 
mained faithful in essentials to the parent tongue. 
Thrilling with the inspiration of Tolstoi's teachings 
of the universal brotherhood of man I finally re- 
turned to my mountain-valley home in the won- 
drous Alpine world. Trout fishing in the deep 
gorges with their roaring rivers, chamois hunting 
on the rugged slopes of the Styrian Alps, and 
all kinds of mountaineering filled my carefree 
days for some months. I have often wondered 
why I ever left my mountain paradise to go into 
the heart-breaking welter and tumult of a diplo- 
matic career. Perhaps a pair of beautiful Oriental 
eyes was responsible. They belonged to a cousin, 
of about my own age, who had married an 
Austrian diplomat and to whom all doors were 
open in the great world of politics and diplomacy. 
She aroused my ambition and arranged for my 
entrance into the foreign service. I decided to 
finish my law studies and then to take the exam- 
inations for the service of the Ministry of Foreign 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 15 

Affairs. I was the more ready to make this deci- 
sion because some of our leading racial leaders, 
my uncles among them, had recently decided that 
we Slavs of the Dual Monarchy should enter 
governmental service when and where possible 
in order that we might have some voice at least 
in sharing and executing the policies of the govern- 
ment under which we were obliged to live. Thus 
it came about that I who had from childhood 
up felt an ever-growing repugnance to the govern- 
ment to which we were unhappily subject became 
a servant of that government. These reflections 
and many more passed through my mind as I 
approached the Serbian capital and realized that 
I was about to step into the centre of momentous 
events which might ultimately affect the whole 
world and the course of history. 

Arriving in Belgrade I found the Legation in 
charge of a baron who had grown old in the service 
of His Majesty, but the real soul of the Legation 
was Major of the General Staff Joseph Pomian- 
kowski, a Galician Pole, and one of the most 
zealous and unscrupulous "privileged" spies I 
ever met in the service. He was commonly called 
"Pomy." He seemed to be omnipresent and om- 
nipotent, giving orders to everybody, including 
even his nominal chief. He was directing the policy 
of the Legation, inspiring its reports, and generally 
trying to make himself indispensable to his real 
masters, the General Staff. He radiated health, 



16 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

energy, and aggressiveness, and was constantly in- 
structing military and political spies and receiv- 
ing their depositions. I soon found out indeed 
that our Consulate, also dominated by "Pomy," 
instead of devoting itself to its legitimate work 
of studying and bettering commercial relations, 
was deeply engaged in a feverish search for Pan- 
Serb conspiracies and conspirators. 

One afternoon, after I had been installed in my 
new office. Consul Corossacz, who was in temporary 
charge of the office, a good-natured, inoffensive 
man, opened the safe and showed me a large 
photographic plate. On examining it I saw that 
it was an autograph letter from Prince Nicholas 
of Montenegro to King Peter of Serbia, in which 
a defensive and offensive alliance between the two 
countries was proposed. I knew that such an 
alliance was one of the standing bugaboos of our 
government. Upon my expressing some doubt 
as to the authenticity of this letter the Consul 
said with a good-natured laugh: "You are right. 
This is one of the documents which the Ministry 
of Foreign Affairs found upon examination to be 
not genuine. We paid 2,000 dinars [francs] for 
it. We bought it from a former chef of the royal 
household who had been dismissed. He allowed 
us to photograph the letter and then restore it to 
him in order that it might he put back on King 
Peter's desk whence, as he alleged, he had pur- 
loined it. Well, for once we were taken in, but 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 17 

we will make many good bargains to offset this 
bad one." 

I handed the plate back to the Consul with a 
feeling of revulsion. Buying alleged royal letters 
from discharged chefs was to me a new and shock- 
ing kind of diplomacy and I was further disgusted 
to see that the personally inoffensive Consul re- 
garded it as both a natural and legitimate transaction. 
I was soon to find that a swarm of individuals 
of the same character as this discharged servant 
were doing a flourishing business with our office 
at the expense of the taxpayers of Austria-Hungary. 

Not long after my arrival as Vice-Consul in 
Belgrade an individual slunk into the back door 
of that little capital city who was to play a role 
in international affairs as important as he was 
himself Insignificant. On his first arrival in Serbia 
he was, to use a bit of expressive American slang, 
"down and out." 

Shortly after his arrival in Belgrade he published 
a pamphlet on the Jesuits of Bosnia in which he 
denounced the activities of the Archbishop of 
Sarajevo and the whole Roman Catholic propa- 
ganda. He represented himself as a Serb who had 
been ruined and persecuted by our government 
because of his pitiless exposure of Jesuitical plots. 
On the strength of this pamphlet and these repre- 
sentations, George Nastic, whose name was to 
become scandalously linked with the leading 
diplomats of the Dual Monarchy, wormed his 



18 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

way into the students' club in Belgrade known 
as the Slovenski Jug, and had made himself per- 
fectly at home there by the time Count Forgach, 
the new Austro-Hungarian Minister, arrived in 
Belgrade, in the summer of 1907. 

On July 22, 1908, a cataclysm occurred in the 
Turkish Empire which greatly alarmed our govern- 
ment. On that day the standard of revolt was 
raised by the Young Turk Party in Macedonia. 
The Young Turks announced that as soon as they 
had overthrown the bloody and bigoted rule of 
Abdul Hamid they would open a parliament at 
Constantinople to which all the nationalities of 
the empire would be invited to send representa- 
tives and in which all should have equal rights. 
This announced intention to turn the Turkish 
Empire from a shambles into a happy family was 
for the moment accepted at its face value and hence 
aroused great enthusiasm among the polyglot 
peoples of the realm. 

But this feeling was not shared by the Austrian 
Government. One of the many quarrel-fomenting 
and war-breeding provisions of the Congress of 
Berlin of 1878 was that Bosnia and Herzegovina 
should be temporarily occupied by Austria-Hun- 
gary while remaining under the suzerainty of the 
Sultan. As an inevitable result, the actual con- 
trol of those provinces was in the hands of the 
Emperor of Austria, while the Sultan of Turkey 
exercised a nominal control. Our statesmen were 



AUSTRO GERMAN-INTRIGUE 19 

now greatly alarmed lest these provinces should be 
absorbed by a reformed and democratized Turk- 
ish Empire and that they might thus be forestalled 
in their ultimate intention to seize the provinces 
and make them integral parts of our empire. 
Whether the Young Turks knew of Austria's de- 
signs on Bosnia and Herzegovina and hastened 
their revolution in order to forestall them I do 
not know, but it is altogether probable that such 
was the case. I do know, however, that our diplo- 
macy became almost hysterical in its redoubled 
zeal to demonstrate that the annexation of these 
provinces, in violation of international law and 
treaty rights, had become necessary to the safety 
and integrity of our monarchy. 

In May, 1908, I was ordered to Nish, the former 
capital of Serbia and situated in the southern part of 
the country, to take charge of the Consulate. On 
July 22d, the very day the Young Turks started 
their revolution, I was called back to Belgrade and 
placed in charge of the Consulate General there. 

On arriving at Belgrade I soon realized that 
portentous events were impending. Some of my 
colleagues freely expressed the opinion that we 
were going to create a situation in the near future 
which would force the annexation of Bosnia and 
Herzegovina. Therefore, I was not much sur- 
prised when I learned that George Nastic, whose 
very existence I had forgotten, had issued a pamph- 
let purporting to expose his experiences as a 



20 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

member of the Slovenski Jug, the students' club 
into which he had forced his way, and alleging 
that it was in fact not a students' club at all, but 
a revolutionary society. Coming, as it did, on 
the heels of the startling events in Turkey, this 
pamphlet created a sensation. 

Nastic asserted that the club was the chief 
medium by which the Serbian Government fo- 
mented revolution among the southern Slavs of 
the empire. He supplied lurid details of the 
club's activities. For example: to further its 
terrorist propaganda, it had bombs made at the 
Serbian military arsenal at Kragujevac. He him- 
self, so he declared, had been sent to the arsenal 
to inspect the manufacture of these bombs, and 
they were finally brought to Belgrade and stored 
in the club. They were intended for use on 
Austrian soil but were finally diverted to another 
purpose at which Nastic represents himself as 
flying into a rage, leaving the club, and resolving 
to expose the whole conspiracy in order to avenge 
himself upon his companions. In September, 
1907, he did in fact leave Belgrade and returned 
to Bosnia. 

Nastic sought to support these assertions by 
some postal cards written him from Brussels by a 
member of the club. The pamphlet concluded 
with an alleged reproduction of a document known 
as *'the statute of organization for the liberation 
of the Jugoslavs." This "statute" set forth as 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 21 

the aim of the Jugoslavs the attainment of national 
unity through the establishment of a great Jugo- 
slav Federation of Republics. To accomplish 
this purpose a revolutionary organization was to be 
developed. 

Nastic originally attributed the authorship of 
the document to a certain Austrian Slav by the 
name of Milan Pribicevic; later to several different 
authors; and finally to the Serbian Foreign Office. 
The original, while repeatedly called for, was never 
produced, although there was eveiy reason why 
Nastic should wish to produce it and none why 
he should not. 

By my colleagues in the Legation and Consulate 
these "revelations" were eagerly accepted as a 
convincing indictment of the Serbian dynasty, 
government, and people. By the Serbs, on the 
other hand, they were looked upon as an object 
of scornful mirth. The idea that a students' 
club with a few rooms on the main street of a town 
of 80,000 inhabitants, and with a reading room 
open to almost everyone, should be the headquarters 
of a huge revolutionary movement seemed to them 
ludicrous. 

As a result of this publication, many arrests 
were made by the Austrian police. The first 
in the batch of "conspirators" were two brothers 
of the alleged author of the statute for the liberation 
of the southern Slavs, one a petty official in a re- 
mote town and the other a teacher in the theologi- 



22 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

cal seminary of the Serbian Orthodox Church. 
They were followed by six schoolmasters of obscure 
Croatian villages, six petty merchants, two stud- 
ents, two Serbian priests, a forest guard, and the 
mayor of a small town. In all thirty-three people 
were arrested, not one of whom was a person of any 
prominence. They were taken in chains to Zagreb, 
thrown into prison, forced to associate with crim- 
inals of the lowest type, and refused the opportun- 
ity to communicate with counsel. 

Now that George Nastic had become a notorious 
character, I resolved to acquaint myself more 
fully with his career and connections. I already 
knew that he was connected with our secret police 
in Vienna, Sarajevo, and Zagreb. I soon dis- 
covered that he was also closely associated with 
certain correspondents of German and Austro- 
German papers who had been evicted from Serbian 
soil because of their slanderous attacks upon the 
Serbian Government. After office hours in the 
beautiful summer days of 1908 I often went bj'' 
boat up the Danube to Zemun, a Croatian town 
opposite Belgrade. Usually a party of us, from 
the German and Italian legations, as well as our 
own, went together. On these trips I frequently 
met a Jewish newspaper correspondent by the 
name of Steinhardt. He was one of the newspaper 
men who had been expelled from Belgrade and 
he now glowered across the river and brooded 
vengeance. I asked him, banteringly, one day 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 23 

where he picked up his amazing tales of Serbian 
affairs. "All things," he replied, pointing to 
his head, "originate here, and I will teach the 
Serbian police that on Austrian soil they cannot 
reach me." Knowing that Nastic was a friend 
of his, I asked him if Nastic got his facts from the 
same source, to which he replied in the affirmative. 
My conversations with this resourceful yellow 
journalist of the East led me to believe that Nas- 
tic received from him at least the inspiration for 
his sensational pamphlet. 

Toward the end of September I was ordered 
back to Nish. There I had begun to renew my 
many pleasant acquaintances among the officials 
and civilians of the city when on October 7, 
1908, the news that Austria had formally annexed 
Bosnia and Herzegovina fell like a bomb into the 
quiet old city. Although they knew that I sym- 
pathized with them, my Serbian friends avoided 
me. It was generally felt among the Serbs that 
this was only the first step leading to events much 
more ^important and more tragic. This fear was 
increased by the fulminations of the German and 
Magyar press, which now became more vitupera- 
tive than ever in their attacks upon the Serbian 
dynasty, government, and people. The Austrians 
took it for granted that Serbia's resentment would 
lead to war, and the Austrian Government pro- 
ceeded with military preparations based upon 
that assumption. 



24 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

The annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina 
brought Aehrenthal an honour which he had long 
coveted. The Emperor raised him from Baron 
to Count and permitted him to drop Lexa, the name 
of his Jewish father, of which he was not proud. 
In spite of this reward, Aehrenthal winced under 
the all-but-universal condemnation of his lawless 
act throughout the world. Germany alone among 
the nations at once recognized and approved his act. 
This recognition had little weight internationally 
as everyone knew that it was merely Germany's 
necessary repayment in kind for Austria's con- 
donation of the Kaiser's arbitrariness in the Moroc- 
can affair. Aehrenthal craved justification for 
his act, or at any rate the appearance of justifica- 
tion. He wanted to impress the public, both at 
home and abroad, that the annexation was es- 
sential to the protection of the empire. All the 
subsequent feverish activit es of the Ballplatz, 
through the medium of its "literary" or press 
bureau, to prove Serbia's guilt in anti-Austrian 
plots were justified on the same ground. Aehren-' 
thal's Magyar colleagues were alarmed by the 
report that both Archduke Francis Ferdinand, 
the heir to the throne, and even the old emperor 
himself, were disposed to look with some favour 
upon the Trialism programme as a possible cure for 
the Dual Monarchy's chronic disorders and wanted 
to frighten them away from the plan by some 
dramatic demonstration of the Pan-Serb menace. 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 25 

Trialism contemplated the creation of an au- 
tonomous southern Slav state which should be 
linked to the Vienna Government very much as 
was Hungary. Thus would the Dual Monarchy 
be changed to a Triple Monarchy. This plan 
was very repellent to the Magyars of Hungary 
because it would end their power to oppress and 
exploit the Slavs and the other subject races. 
Subsequent events indicated that both Francis 
Joseph and his heir were as hostile to this plan 
as 'the great Magyar junkers themselves. It is 
probable, however, that they allowed their power- 
ful and difficult Magyar subjects to believe that 
they favoured Trialism in order that they might 
use it as a club over their heads. 

On November 4, 1908, Emperor William ar- 
rived at Eckartsau as hunting guest of Archduke 
Francis Ferdinand. In the stillness of this Austrian 
hunting castle, situated on a branch of the Danube 
below Vienna (the abode of ex-Emperor Charles, 
the last of the Hapsburgs before he went to Switzer- 
land), an agreement was reached for common ac- 
tion between Austria and Germany. The "critical 
days" for Europe in this first crisis were in Decem- 
ber, 1908, and also, as will be later seen, at the end 
of March, 1909. 

By November, 1908, our preparations for war 
with Serbia were completed and I daily expected 
an order from the Legation to destroy all the evi- 
dences of the secret activities of my predecessors 



'26 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

and to leave Nish and Serbia by the shortest route 
and cross into Bulgaria. At this time I resolved 
to go to Belgrade and find out how matters stood 
at headquarters. On my arrival I called upon the 
then Charge d' Affaires, Otto Franz, the Minister, 
Count Forgach, being absent. He greeted me 
with an outburst of wrath and bitterly reproached 
me for leaving my post at a time when our ultima- 
tum to Serbia was expected hourly. I told him 
that I did not regard war as imminent unless our 
diplomacy were so unwise as deliberately to force 
it. I assured him that the so-called Pan-Serb 
peril was a nightmare conjured out of nothing 
more real than the distraught imaginations of our 
diplomats. I pointed out to him the absurdity 
of little Serbia being dangerous to our great empire 
— the second strongest military power in the world. 
He violently repudiated my assertions and vehe- 
mently protested that Serbia would always imperil 
Austria's very existence until she was humbled 
and taught a lesson. He went on to say that 
Serbia was deliberately corrupting the Jugoslav 
leaders, especially those of Dalmatia, Croatia, 
and Bosnia. I retorted that as a Jugoslav I 
resented these accusations against my racial kins- 
men and that he well knew that there was no valid 
evidence with which to support them. He replied 
heatedly: "On the contrary, we already have the 
proofs in our hands. We know how much each 
Jugoslav leader and each member of the Croatian 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE £7 

Diet has received for his support of the Croato- 
Serb coalition against us. 

"You may have the names of these men and 
the amounts paid to each one, but I tell you that 
your so-called proofs for which we have paid so 
much of the taxpayers' money are nothing but 
clumsy forgeries. As you know, some of the 
documents we have purchased have already been 
repudiated as forgeries by our own Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs . ' ' 

The next day I was peremptorily ordered back 
to Nish, but before leaving I had opportunity 
to observe the frantic efforts of our legation to 
gather material which should place on the shoulders 
of little Serbia the responsibility for the war which 
was now assumed to be imminent and inevitable. 
A confidant of one of the attaches told me that 
all the files of the Legation were being packed in 
readiness to be sent, some of them across the 
Danube into our territory and others to the German 
Legation. One of the Legation secretaries told 
me that they had been working nearly twenty- 
three hours out of the twenty-four for several days. 
Our new military attache. Major Tanczos, was 
feverishly engrossed in gathering together through 
our spies, both military and civil, the final military 
data about the Serbian territory which he believed 
our armies were soon to occupy. 



CHAPTER II 

The Second Attempt of Austro-German Di- 
plomacy TO Precipitate European War, 1909 

AND HOW BOTH WAR PLOTS WERE UNMASKED 

BESIDES preparing public opinion in Aus- 
tria-Hungary for war against Serbia and 
Russia, our diplomacy tried to inflame 
Serbian public opinion against us. Repeated at- 
tempts were made to incite the Serbs to some rash 
act which would serve as a pretext for war. De- 
spite all such efforts the Serbs kept their heads and 
refused to furnish us with the desired pretext for a 
declaration of war. The two pillars in this cam- 
paign to arouse the war spirit in both countries 
were the "Literary Section" or Press Bureau of 
the Foreign Office in Vienna and our legation in 
Belgrade. The latter furnished the material and 
the former skilfully disseminated it among the 
press organs controlled by the Ballplatz. It was in 
the midst of such stirring scenes and events that I 
returned heavy hearted to my post in Nish where I 
was retained but a short time before being recalled 
to my former position in Belgrade. 
To stimulate the war fever in Austria, the Ball- 

28 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 29 

platz brought forward charges of a widespread Pan- 
Serb conspiracy. Numbers of obscure individuals 
were arrested. In January, 1909, I learned that 
fifty-eight Serbs awaited trial for high treason 
in the prison at Zagreb. It was not until the mid- 
dle of January, nine months after the arrest and im- 
prisonment of the first prisoners, that they were 
indicted. And it was not until March 3d that 
their trial began at Zagreb. 

Meanwhile, in February, 1909, the Neue Freie 
Presse of Vienna, the propaganda organ of Count 
Aehrenthal, had printed as a ballon d'essai "that 
the question of a European mandate to Austria- 
Hungary for a 'punitive expedition' against Ser- 
bia or even the occupation of Serbia was under 
consideration among the Great Powers, because 
of the Serbian armaments and for other reasons." 
This was to repeat Austria's coup in Bosnia and 
Herzegovina in 1878 which provinces were also 
"temporarily" occupied at the "request" of the 
signatory powers of the Congress of Berlin. 

Moreover, on March 6th, Count Forgach, our 
Minister to Serbia, by direction of Count Aehren- 
thal, informed the Serbian Government that we 
should refuse to lay the proposed Austro-Serbian 
Commercial Treaty before the Parliaments of 
the Dual Monarchy for ratification unless their 
attitude toward us was immediately and radically 
changed. In the meantime, we had massed 200,000 
troops on the Bosnian border. Count Aehrenthal 



30 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

notified our Belgrade office that five high officers 
of the General Staff had been sent into Serbia on 
"special mission." Their real names and fictitious 
names were given in case these spies should be 
in need of consular protection. 

At this point Serbia issued a circular note to 
the powers placing her case in their hands and 
requesting that representatives of the powers 
investigate the relations between Austria-Hungary 
and Serbia and report upon them. She expressed 
her willingness that Austrian representatives should 
be present and should have access to all the evi- 
dence, besides offering their own evidence. She 
also renounced in advance any indemnity in case 
it should be found that she had been wronged by 
Austria-Hungary. 

In the meantime, Count Forgach feverishly 
awaited an ultimatum from Count Aehrenthal 
and countless cipher telegrams passed between 
them. At this critical time I was suddenly re- 
called from my Belgrade post and returned to 
Vienna to learn what fate the Foreign Office had 
in store for me. On arriving in Vienna I reported 
at once to Baron Sonnlei timer, the head of the 
Consular Department of our Foreign Office. After 
greeting me with studied lack of courtesy he broke 
out upon me with the wrathful words: "Politically 
you have failed to live up to the expectations of the 
Ministry." On my suggesting, during the ensuing 
conversation, that I be sent back to Russia, where 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 31 

I was already so well acquainted with conditions, 
he exploded with so vehement a negative that I 
realized that my services in Slav countries were 
no longer wanted. Instead, he told me to prepare 
myself to sail for the United States where I would 
be employed In future. I spent the month before 
my departure for America in watching at head- 
quarters the further manoeuvres of our diplomats 
to precipitate war against Serbia and Russia. 
Before the end of the month, in fact, we were to 
present an ultimatum to Serbia, and simultaneously 
Kaiser Wilhelm would send an ultimatum to Russia 
demanding the recognition of our annexation of 
Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

On March 24, 1909, I learned that this long- 
awaited ultimatum had finally been sent to Count 
Forgach in Belgrade. On the same day there ap- 
peared in the Vienna papers an interview with a 
*'high Austrian diplomat In Belgrade" (presumably 
Forgach himself) in which the diplomat said that 
he expected the ultimatum that evening and that 
it would be presented the next day. Further, he 
stated that it might well happen that there would 
be no declaration of war, just as was the case when 
Frederick the Great attacked Silesia; and Japan 
the Russian fleet at Port Arthur. The interview 
concluded with the following question and answer: 

Correspondent: "Could the departure of the 
Minister be interpreted as equivalent to a declara- 
tion of war?" 



32 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

Diplomat: "Count Forgach might even hear 
the first shots fired while stepping over the thresh- 
old of his palace." 

The same day a Budapest paper said: "The 
responsible factors in the monarchy believe that 
it is both feasible and desirable to do away with 
Serbia at this time." And it added: "Such favour- 
able conditions for the war could hardly be ex- 
pected to recur in the future." Herr Von Wekerle, 
the Hungarian premier, declared: "If the mainte- 
nance of peace does not prove feasible at this time 
it is best that the poison-tongue of the Balkans 
be pulled out at once. It is by no means advisable 
to wait until the at-present-weakened Russia 
sufficiently regains her powers to take the field 
against ourselves and Germany. It is much 
more judicious to fight at once." 

In the midst of these breathless events, while 
the Austrian and German armies were poised like 
hawks awaiting their prey in Serbia and Russia, 
the astoundingly disconcerting news arrived on 
March 25, 1909, that the latter countries had 
meekly accepted the Austrian and German ulti- 
mata and had dutifully recognized as legal the 
notoriously illegal annexation of Bosnia and Her- 
zegovina. 

Thanks to Russia, the World War had been 
averted — for the time being. But the crisis left 
behind an incident destined to become famous — 
or infamous — in history. The incident was the 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 33 

suit for libel arising out of the notorious "Fried- 
jung Documents." Among the most inflammatory 
articles that had appeared in the Austrian press 
at the time was one written by Professor Fried jung, 
the foremost living Austrian historian. It was 
printed in the Vienna Neue Freie Presse on the 
day on which the Austrian ultimatum was de- 
livered in Belgrade. In this article Friedjung 
scored the "insolent attitude" of Serbia toward 
the Dual Monarchy and gave our whole list of 
grievances against Serbia from the time of the 
accession of her present dynasty. The main 
accusation was that "Pan-Serbian conspirators 
were seeking to erect a great Serbian empire on 
the ruins of Austrian and Turkish rule. The 
Croato-Serb coalition is directed from Belgrade 
and large gifts of money to influential Serbs in 
southern Hungary and Croatia are nourishing the 
alliance between Croats and Serbs." 

In support of these familiar accusations, Doctor 
Friedjung quoted a confidential report alleged to 
have been sent by Doctor Spalajkovic, Serbian 
Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, to Premier 
Pasic, in which he gave a detailed account of his 
meetings with a representative of the Croato-Serb 
coalition on Croatian territory, opposite Belgrade. 
This man, a member of the Croatian Diet, offered 
in the name of the coalition to place five news- 
papers at the disposal of the Serbian Government 
for the modest sum of 12,000 kronen (about 



31 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

$2,400). Professor Friedjung further asserted that 
M. Supilo, the founder and head of the coahtion, 
had urged the Serbian Premier, Doctor Pasic, 
"to spend his summer hohdays on the Croatian 
Coast in order to be in touch with his pohtical 
friends." In conclusion, Professor Friedjung chal- 
lenged: "Should any of the heads of the Serbian 
Government dispute any of these assertions they 
would be supplied with further details and would 
be given the names of Croatian deputies and the 
amounts of money paid to them from the Serbian 
treasury." 

The Professor then repeated the revelations 
made by George Nastic in his pamphlet, "Finale," 
with which we are already familiar. This article, 
which was entitled :" Austria-Hungary and Serbia," 
exploded like a bomb not only in Austria-Hungary 
and Serbia, but throughout Europe generally. 
It contained the first concrete charges against the 
Jugoslav leaders who had been engaged in alleged 
treasonable relations with the Serbian Government, 
and these charges were made not by an obscure 
and disreputable individual like Nastic, but by 
an historian of international reputation. Friedjung 
was the author, among other well-known books, 
of the great work entitled: "The Struggle for 
Predominance in Germany," in which he sought 
to prepare the Austrian Germans for the dominance 
of Germany over Austria, which he rightly saw 
would result gradually but inevitably from their 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 35 

defeat at the hands of the Prussians at Sadowa 
in 1866. He was, in fact, the first exponent of the 
Middle Europe idea which has since been more fully 
expounded by Naumann, Rohrbach, and others, 
and the foundations for which later seemed to 
have been laid in the World War by the successes 
of German arms in the Near East. It was known 
also that he bore the same intimate relation to the 
Vienna Government as did the great publicist, 
Maximilian Harden, to that of Berlin. When it ap- 
peared that the war was inevitable. Professor Fried- 
jung was asked by Count Aehrenthal to prepare 
a series of articles which would provide the great 
indictment of Serbia. These articles were pre- 
pared from material furnished by the "Literary" 
Bureau. When in the evening of March 24th 
Professor Friedjung learned that Russia was not 
going to back up Serbia, he tried to withdraw the 
article in question, but it was too late. 

Two days after the publication of Professor Fried- 
jung's article two members of the Croato-Serb 
coalition, in a telegram to the Neue Freie Presse^ 
declared the Professor's charges against the coali- 
tion to be "pure inventions" and challenged him 
to name the guilty persons. Friedjung declined 
to give the names, but said that he was ready to 
face court action and would produce before the 
court "proofs of his assertions." He added that 
he was fully competent to "distinguish genuine 
documents and historial sources from the false 



S6 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

ones." x\t the same time Messiem-s Supilo, Pri- 
bi6evic, and Lukinic started suit for a slander 
against the Reichspost, the organ of the Christian 
SociaUsts, which had made charges against them 
similar to those made by Professor Friedjung. 
Simultaneously Doctor Spalajkovic, the Serbian 
Under Secretary, denied all the charges which 
Friedjung had made against him. Thus started 
the second of the famous so-called high treason 
trials, only in this one, unlike the first, the anti- 
Serbs were the defendants. 

Aehrenthal and Forgach realized that the Fried- 
jung charges were unable to withstand even the 
meagre degree of impartial investigation which 
an Austrian court in political cases sometimes af- 
forded. Hence, through intermediaries, they has- 
tened to bring to bear all their powerful pressure 
for an out-of-court settlement. Unfortunately 
for them, in this case they had brought their 
charges against men who were powerful even 
though members of despised and subject races. 
As a result their pressure was successfully resisted 
and the to them unwelcome trial had to proceed. 
It was constantly postponed, but finally on the 
ninth day of December, 1909, in a Viennese court, 
it opened. 

I was already at my new post in America, serving 
as Vice-Consul in Denver, Colorado, when the 
news of the opening of the great trial reached me. 
I carefully examined the documents as they were 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 37 

published in the course of the trial and found that 
all but two were familiar to me, as they had been 
gathered during my service in Serbia. I found 
also that I had challenged the genuineness of 
several of them and had protested both to Count 
Forgach and the First Secretary, Mr, Franz, 
against their use. Among the documents, further- 
more, there was not one whose charges were not 
perfectly familiar to me and indeed to everyone 
who knew anything of the relations between the 
Jugoslavs and the Budapest and Vienna govern- 
ments. It all boiled down to the old, old charge 
that the Jugoslav leaders of our monarchy were 
in the pay of the Serbian Government in their 
efforts for unity among Croats and Serbs inside 
our borders. 

In support of his charges Professor Friedjung 
submitted to the court twenty-four documents. 
Like the Government's evidence in the former trial, 
they were offered in German translations and not 
in the original. Furthermore, they were not given 
complete, but merely as fragments. Of these 
twenty-four documents, nineteen were alleged 
minutes of the Slovenski Jug. On these there 
appeared six names. Of these the three more prom- 
inent were those of Professor Bozidar Markovic, 
professor of criminal law at the University of 
Belgrade, who was president of the club; a former 
president of the Serbian Parliament, and a former 
Minister of Education in the Serbian Cabinet. 



38 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

The five remaining documents consisted of: a 
circular issued by the Governor-General of Croatia; 
the report oi Doctor Spalajkovic to the Premier 
already referred to; a telegram of the Serbian 
Minister in Petrograd ; a telegram from the Serbian 
Consul in Budapest to the Serbian Foreign Minister, 
and a confidential order of the Serbian Foreign 
Office. 

Professor Fried jung concluded his defence with 
these words: "My life work has been historical 
research, and thus my defence takes the form of a 
chapter in a historical work, the history of the 
Balkan problem. I have spoken to you gentlemen 
as my judges, but at the same time I address my 
fellow historians, who will also give their verdict as 
to whether in examining these documents I have 
acted critically and conscientiously, sifting the 
true from the false. Every impartial person will, 
I am sure, admit that I have built upon the sure 
foundation of reliable documents, and hence I 
await with complete calm the final verdict of the 
jury." 

When the Professor had finished, Doctor Funder, 
the editor-in-chief of the Reichspost, gave his 
defence. He was more specific than Professor 
Friedjung in referring to the sources and authentic- 
ity of their documents. He said: "I know their 
origin ; in most cases I know how they were obtained 
and how carefully their authenticity was tested.'* 
He said finally that his attacks in the Reichspost 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 39 

were based mainly upon the report of Doctor 
Spalajkovic to the Serbian premier, Doctor Pasic, 
a photograph of the original of which document 
had been shown to him and to Professor Friedjung. 

The alleged minutes of the Central Committee 
of the Slovenski Jug for February 26, 1908, showed 
that at a meeting held on that day, 6,000 dinars 
(about $1,200) was appropriated to be sent to 
M. Supilo, the head of the Croato-Serb coalition, 
to be used by him in the "impending elections" 
to the Diet of the Triune Kingdom in Croatia. 
The prosecution proved that the elections in 
question had taken place fourteen days before 
this meeting was held and this money appropriated. 
On being presented with this dilemma Professor 
Friedjung said that the money must have been in- 
tended for use in a later election. He had to aban- 
don this supposition, however, when it was shown 
that the resolution by which the money was appro- 
priated stated that it was to be used to help defeat 
the candidates of "The Frank and Starcevic 
party," and that these candidates had already 
been defeated two weeks before the date of the 
alleged meeting. Unable to parry this blow, the 
learned historian contented himself with an apolo- 
getic admission that he had failed to verify the 
date on which the election actually occurred. 

At this point in the trial there appeared, from 
the point of view of the eminent historian, a very 
unwelcome volunteer witness. This was Professor 



40 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

Bozidar Markovic, the president of the Slovenski 
Jug, the alleged revolutionary society. Professor 
Markovic took the stand and quietly pointed out 
to the court that the alleged minutes of meetings 
held October 20th and October 21st, at which he 
was represented as presiding, could not be genuine 
since he was in Berlin on those dates attending 
lectures on criminal law. He added that his state- 
ment could readily be verified by reference to the 
Berlin police, to whom he had reported his arrival 
and departure as well as to the hotels where he 
stopped and where his signature could be found 
on the registers. This statement caused great 
excitement in the court room, and the Berlin police 
were at once communicated with. Wliile their 
reply was awaited, the Professor continued his 
testimony. He stated that no central committee 
had ever existed ; that no reports of the secretary's 
activities were ever submitted to Prince George; 
that no one by the name of Jovanovic, whose 
name appeared in one set of alleged minutes as 
vice-president of the club, had ever held that 
office ; that as he had never been in Salonica in his 
life he could not have there conferred with the 
Young Turk Committee as he was represented 
to have done; that the non-existent central 
committee of the club could never have conferred 
with a guerrilla band committee regarding the 
outfitting of raids into Bosnia; that one Milan 
Stefanovic could never have signed their minutes 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 41 

as secretary as they had never had a secretary 
of that name; and that the club was founded in 
1902 and not in 1904 as stated. 

While the court, and indeed all Austria, awaited 
Berlin's report on Professor Markovic's alibi, an- 
other uninvited and most unwelcome witness 
made his appearance. This was Doctor Spalaj- 
kovic. Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs of 
Serbia, and the alleged author of some of the docu- 
ments upon which the defence rested its case. 
Taking up the report headed : " Ministry for Foreign 
Affairs, Political Department, Belgrade, June 4, 
1907, Confidential No. 3027," he pointed out that 
the total number of confidential reports issued 
by the department during the entire year of 1907 
numbered only 1991 and that the numbers used 
between June 1st and June 30th ran from 832 
to 1040. Turning next to the documents upon 
which Doctor Funder had stated that he chiefly 
based his charges, he called attention to the fact 
that it bore the number 5703 while the highest 
number actually used by his department on the 
day in question was 367; also that the paper was 
signed by a cashier as well as himself, whereas no 
cashier had ever signed a political report in the 
Serbian Foreign Office or had ever been connected 
with the political department. He also asked the 
jury to note that this report, dated June 4, 1907, 
spoke of a certain loan which was to be negotiated 
that coming fall, whereas he had personally com- 



42 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

pleted the negotiations for this loan in Geneva 
a year previous to the date of the report. After 
he had pointed out many more such inconsistencies 
he expressed the readiness of the Serbian Govern- 
ment to have representatives of the Great Powers, 
including Austria, visit Belgrade and personally 
verify the accuracy of his statements and publish 
their respective findings. x\s a parting shot Doctor 
Spalajkovic remarked: "There are clever forgeries 
and stupid forgeries, and those contained in the 
Green Book of the eminent Austrian historian 
do not belong to the former category." 

After the cross-examination of Doctor Spalaj- 
kovic, and after the court had admitted the ac- 
curacy of his statement about the loan having been 
negotiated a year previous to the time stated in 
his alleged report, two perverse handwriting ex- 
perts, Austrians at that, both testified that the 
author of the reports, attributed to the Serbian 
Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, was evidently 
a person imperfectly acquainted both with Serbian 
grammar and orthography ! 

On the 21st of December the eagerly awaited 
report from the Berlin police arrived. It estab- 
lished Professor Markovic's alibi. That two of 
the most important documents in evidence were 
forgeries was now admitted not only by the court 
but by the defendants. We wonder with what 
degree of satisfaction Doctor Funder recalled at 
this point his remark when he announced to the 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 43 

court: "The genuineness of our documents is 
demonstrated not merely by the character of each 
individual document, but far more by their mutual 
connection and interdependence. As soon as any 
part of these documents is proved to be unques- 
tionably genuine the whole chain of evidence is 
complete and irrefutable." Perhaps he recalled 
this expression with as much gratification, however, 
as did his co-defendant his appeal to his fellow 
historians when he said: "I address my fellow 
historians who will also give their verdict as to 
whether in examining these documents I have 
acted critically and conscientiously, sifting the 
true from the false." 

The next morning, while the trial was proceeding, 
there appeared on the scene Dr. J. M. Baernreither, 
a leading Austro-German member of the Reichsrat, 
and a man known to be in the confidence not only 
of Count Aehrenthal, but of the Archduke Francis 
Ferdinand. At the request of this dignitary the 
court adjourned in order that he might confer 
with the litigants. Doctor Baernreither drew M. 
Supilo and his colleagues aside and urged them 
for the reputation of Austria and the dynasty 
to drop their suit against Professor Friedjung 
and accept his retraction of the charges against 
them. He promised them that, if they would 
do this, the bitterly resented absolute government 
in Croatia would be modified and they would be 
given a voice in it. This was the kind of appeal 



44 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

to which no one in an absolutist country Hke 
Austria or Hungary could turn a deaf ear without 
incurring the implacable hostility of the Govern- 
ment and thus becoming the victim of constant 
persecution. Taking all this into consideration, 
and also realizing that the trial had gone far enough 
fully to vindicate their reputations and to blacken 
those of their opponents, they accepted the 
Deputy's proposition and agreed to receive Pro- 
fessor Friedjung's public retraction in place of a 
verdict against him. After this agreement was 
made the puppet court was reconvened and the 
puppet defendant called upon for his retraction. 
Whereupon the eminent historian, whose scholarly 
tail feathers had suffered so sorely in the service 
of his Emperor and his country, was required to 
rise and make the following retraction : 

"I made all the assertions in my articles after 
thorough examination and only reached the fun- 
damental views expressed after conscientious con- 
sideration of all the circumstances before me. 
I am no swashbuckler, however, and know how to 
appreciate the importance as evidence of Professor 
Markovic's stay in Berlin now officially confirmed. 
I therefore conscientiously acknowledge that the 
two documents of October 20th and 21st must be 
eliminated, and I should no longer like to base 
any claims upon the remaining documents. Hav- 
ing made this declaration I can say with a clear 
conscience that in my whole attitude in this affair 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 45 

and also in to-day's declaration I have had in view 
solely the welfare of our common Fatherland." 

With these lofty sentiments the once famous 
and now notorious scholar took his seat, the court 
adjourned, and the greatest international politico- 
legal farce and scandal of recent times came to its 
abrupt end. 

Meanwhile, also, the Zagreb high treason trial 
came to a close. On October 5, 1909, after the 
trial had been dragged out for fully five months, 
or fourteen months from the arrest of those first 
accused, thirty-six of the fifty-eight accused were 
found guilty of high treason and twenty-two were 
acquitted. In spite of the law which fixes death 
as the only penalty for high treason, terms of im- 
prisonment were inflicted upon those pronounced 
guilty. The court accompanied the verdict with 
this statement: "The court has relied upon the 
evidence of the so-called crown witness, George 
Nastic, only in so far as it was by other unquestion- 
able evidence or documentary proofs supported. 
The rest of the evidence the court has rejected as 
irrelevant." Thus ended the first great treason 
trial — in a fiasco. 

Not long after this the Septemviral Table, the 
Court of Appeals of Croatia, set aside the verdict 
on the ground that the evidence produced by the 
public prosecutor failed to prove high treason. 
The thirty-six persons, some of whom had now been 
in prison under constant punishment for alleged 



46 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

refractory behaviour for more than a year, and 
in association with the lowest common criminals, 
were set free and declared to be innocent. One 
may imagine that these individuals were scarcely 
in a frame of mind and body to be grateful for the 
good character which their government had finally 
given them. 

Nearly a year later a Belgrade journalist by 
the name of Vasic confessed to M. Supilo that 
he was the Milan Stefanovic, the alleged secretary 
of the Slovenski Jug, in whose handwriting, ac- 
cording to the testimony of Professor Fried jung 
himself, all the minutes were written — the mysteri- 
ous secretary whose very existence was unknown 
to Professor Markovic, the president. Vasic fur- 
ther admitted that he made these forgeries in the 
Belgrade Legation with the knowledge of the Min- 
ister, Count Forgach, himself. Each document 
was then photographed and these photographs 
were sent regularly both to Count Aehrenthal and 
Archduke Francis Ferdinand. In December, 1910, 
Vasic was brought before a Belgrade court, and, 
on his own confession, condemned to five years' 
imprisonment. The confession of Vasic made such 
a stir that Count Aehrenthal finally felt obliged 
to make an explanatory statement. Accordingly 
he explained in his organ, the Fremdenhlatt, that 
*'he [Vasic] belongs to the category of individuals 
which ... in critical times press their in- 
formation upon diplomatic agents. His state- 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 47 

ments were received," he added, "by a subordinate 
clerk of the Belgrade Legation until their worth- 
lessness became apparent." Although perhaps 
not so intended, this statement of the noble 
count was an official admission of the worthless- 
ness of the documents upon which Professor 
Fried jung and Doctor Funder had based their 
charges, which were to serve as a basis for a great 
war. In Vasic I recognized one of the many 
shady individuals with whom our legation had had 
clandestine transactions during my service in 
Belgrade. 

I now watched with interest to see what means 
would be used in the effort to rehabilitate the tar- 
nished reputations of my former chiefs and col- 
leagues in our Vienna and Belgrade offices. The 
faithful Forgach, after the Emperor had made 
him a Privy Councillor for his efforts, was banished 
as Minister to the Court of Dresden for their 
failure. Otto Franz was also sent to Dresden, 
but without even the empty title of Privy Councillor 
as a consolation. To go from Belgrade, at that 
time the seething centre of Near Eastern politics, 
to Dresden, the centre of nothing except memories, 
was indeed a setback for ambitious diplomats. 
My former chief, Herr Hann von Hannenheim, 
was sent for political fumigation to Montreal, 
Canada. 

Count Aehrenthal and his associates were indeed 
under a cloud. They had not only failed to justify 



48 AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 

in the eyes of Europe the illegal annexation of 
Bosnia and Herzegovina and failed to bring on a 
war with Serbia and Russia — a war so eagerly 
coveted by their party — but they had actually 
fastened upon themselves and upon Austrian 
diplomacy the obloquy of aiding and abetting 
forgers and forgeries. And worst of all, perhaps, in 
a monarchical country they had placed a stigma 
upon the head of the heir to the throne. The 
Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the patron if not 
the actual head of the War Party, of course suffered 
a diminution of prestige in common with his fol- 
lowers. The old emperor was said to be very 
angry at the methods which had been employed, al- 
though it is more probable that his anger was 
aroused chiefly by their lack of success. 



CHAPTER III 

Austro-German Plans for the Conquest 
AND Partition of Russia 

BISMARCK EFFECTIVELY OPPOSES THESE PLANS 

BEFORE proceeding with my personal nar- 
rative I will introduce the reader to the 
origin of the Austro-German plans for the 
conquest and partition of Russia. The world 
drama is a continuous performance. One scene 
kaleidoscopically follows another in quick succes- 
sion. The assassination of Archduke Francis 
Ferdinand and the critical period following before 
the curtain was rung up for the World War were 
merely the epilogue to the drama of intrigue which 
opened with the Russo-Japanese War, which itself 
marked only the revival of plans originated during 
the Crimean War. Those who witnessed the cul- 
mination only of this titanic drama naturally found 
it as illogical and inexplicable as thunder and 
lightning coming out of a clear sky. It is to such 
observers that Prince Bismarck's revelations on 
Austria's and Prussia's intrigues in the Crimean 
War should be recalled in order that they may see 
in proper perspective the managers and stage- 
hands of the World War. 

49 



50 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

The Teutonic war parties of the World War were 
in fact merely the reincarnation of the Austrian 
and Prussian war parties of the Crimean War. 
In Berlin as well as in Vienna there was at the time 
of the Crimean War, according to the testimony 
of Prince Bismarck, a powerful war party urging 
immediate war against Russia. The propaganda 
for war against Russia in 1854 was spread chiefly 
by the Berlin newspaper, Preussisches Wocheti' 
blatt. Bismarck said: "The party of the Woch- 
enblatt, as it was called, played a curious double 
game. I recollect the comprehensive memoranda 
which these gentlemen interchanged among them- 
selves, and how by imparting them to me they 
even sought, now and then, to win me over to their 
side. The aim specified was the dismemberment 
of Russia (Die Zerstuechelung Russlands), by the 
forfeiture of the Baltic provinces, including St. 
Petersburg, to Prussia and Sweden, the loss of the en- 
tire territory of the Republic of Poland in its widest 
extent, and the disintegration of the remainder by 
a division between Great and Little Russia."* 

On what grounds was dismemberment of Russia 
proposed? "In justification of this program" 
(for the dismemberment of Russia), Prince Bis- 
marck says, "the theory of Baron Von Haxthausen- 
Abbenburg ('Studies of the International Econ- 
omy of Russia, the Life of the People and in Partic- 



*Bismarck's "Reflections and Reminiscences"; Transl. by A. J. Butler, 
Vol. I, pp. 119-120. 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 51 

ular, the Agrarian Institutions') was made use 
of; namely, that the three zones, with their mu- 
tually supplementary products, could not fail to 
secure predominance in Europe to the hundred 
millions of Russians provided they remained united. 
From this theory grew the corollary that the 
natural bond between us and England should be 
developed with the added dark insinuation that 
if Prussia and her army served England against 
Russia, England on her side would further the 
Prussian policy."* 

From the above, it appears that the dismember- 
ment of Russia was proposed on the ground that if the 
Slavs, especially the Russians, remained united, they 
would inevitably attain preponderance in Europe. 

The official propaganda for the dismemberment 
of Russia in 1854 was conducted by Bethmann- 
HoUweg, uncle of the Bethmann-Hollweg of the 
World War. It was financed by him and other big 
capitalists, whose relatives later played leading 
roles in bringing about the World War. 

"The active and practical realization of these 
hopes," Bismarck continues, "was confined to the 
little circle of the Court opposition, which, under 
the name of the Bethmann-Hollweg group, tried to 
win over the Prince of Prussia to themselves and 
their efforts. The party, or more correctly, coterie, 
found its original mainstay in Count Robert von 

*Bismarck's "Reflections and Reminiscences"; Transl. by A. J. Butler, 
Vol. I. p. 120. 



52 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

der Goltz, a man of unusual competence and energy. 
The 'financing' of the business (to use a stock-ex- 
change expression) was provided for by the vast 
wealth of Bethmann-HoUweg, Count Fuersten- 
berg-Stammheim, and Count Albert Pourtales." 

Bismarck discloses a report from the Prussian 
Ambassador to London from which it appears that 
England at that time favoured the programme of 
the Teutonic war parties, going even so far as prom- 
ising the whole south of Russia with the Crimea to 
Austria, as reward for cooperation against Russia. 

"While Goltz and his colleagues at Berlin," 
Bismarck further says, "were conducting their 
affairs with a certain dexterity, of which the article 
just mentioned is a sample, Bunsen, our Ambassa- 
dor in London, was imprudent enough in April, 
1854, to send to the Minister, Manteuffel, a lengthy 
memorandum calling for the restoration of Poland, 
the extension of Austria as far as the Crimea, the 
deposition of the Ernestine line from the throne of 
Saxony, and more of the same kind ; and recommend- 
ing the cooperation of Prussia in this programme." 

Bismarck then gives a very true picture of the 
position of the Emperor Francis Joseph, who lived 
long enough to realize the ambitions of his youth, 
for a war against Russia: "The Emperor Francis 
Joseph is in the hands of his police — and during the 
last years I have learned what that means — and 
has allowed himself to be deceived by lies as to how 
Russia incited Kossuth and so forth. He has 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 53 

stifled his conscience therewith, and what the 
pohce cannot compass {nicJit vermag), Ultramon- 
tanism achieves, namely, rage against the Orthodox 
Church and against Protestant Prussia. On this 
account there is even now talk of a Kingdom of 
Poland under an Austrian Archduke. 

"With these childish Utopias, heads clever 
enough, no doubt, of the Bethmann-Hollweg party 
played at being statesmen, believing it poss^ible to 
treat a body of sixty-six million Great Russians as 
if it were a caput mortuum in the future of Europe, 
which they could misuse as they pleased without 
making it a certain ally of every future enemy of 
Prussia in every war with France, to guard her 
rear in the direction of Poland, seeing that any 
arrangement likely to satisfy Poland in the prov- 
inces of Prussia and Posen and even in Silesia 
is impossible without the breaking up and decom- 
posing of Prussia. Not only did these politicians 
consider themselves wise, but they were honoured 
as such by the Liberal Press." 

Bismarck sharply criticizes Bethmann-Hollweg 
and his group of dismemberers of Russia; and 
flays the liberal press which supported them. In 
order to understand the Austro-German declara- 
tions of war against Russia in 1914 one must go 
back to this Austro-Prussian programme of 1854. 

To carry out their ambitious plan for the con- 
quest and partition of Russia in 1854, the Court 
plotters of Vienna and Berlin needed only a justi- 



54 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

fiable pretext for war, and right here came their 
great diflSculty. Russia was a traditional friend 
of Prussia. As for Austria, only six years before 
the Russian Czar had saved the throne of Em- 
peror Francis Joseph, and Austria from dismem- 
berment in the revolutionary years of 1848-49. 
For this generous act the Czar had asked nothing 
in return. But the conscience of Francis Joseph 
was at no time very sensitive, and that of his 
Minister for Foreign Affairs and adviser, Count 
Buol-Schauenstein, a German from Germany, 
was even less so. He soon found the desired casus 
belli. When the Russian armies crossed the 
Danube to attack Turkey, the ally of England, 
France, and Sardinia, the Ballplatz became very 
indignant and demanded the withdrawal of the 
Russians behind the Danube. 

"The efforts of Count Buol, Austrian Minister 
of Foreign Affairs, to create a casus belli were 
frustrated by Russia's evacuation of Wallachia 
and Moldovia," says Prince Bismarck, concluding, 
"If we do not hold Austria fast as long as practi- 
cable, we burden ourselves with a serious task." 

Regarding these events we have also the testi- 
mony of the Austrian historian Heinrich Friedjung 
in his work: "The Crimean War and Austrian 
Politics" (Der Krimkrieg und die Oesterreichische 
Politik) where he says: "For the next step in the 
development of affairs the stipulation was of special 
importance that Austria must make demand on 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 55 

Russia to evacuate the Danubian principalities, 
and that Prussia must support this demand. Fur- 
thermore, a mihtary convention was concluded 
under which Austria undertook to put in the field 
an army of 350,000 men and Prussia an army of 
200,000 men. The Czar gave vent to his wrath by 
ordering the removal of the statue and picture of 
the Emperor Francis Joseph from his study ; giving 
the statue to his personal valet. The Czar ex- 
pressed himself on that occasion to the Austrian 
minister to this effect: "Sobieski and I were the 
most stupid Kings of Poland for having saved 
Austria." 

What do we learn from these illuminating remi- 
niscences of Bismarck? 

First, that the HohenzoUerns and the Hapsburgs 
had as far back as 1854 painstakingly worked out, 
and their governments had actually adopted, a com- 
plete plan for the invasion and partition of Russia; 
laboured at all costs to create a casus belli; that 
the Ultra-Catholic Party at the Court of Vienna 
was instigating war, and that the party led by 
Bethmann-HoUweg, Prussian Minister and uncle 
of Bethmann-HoUweg of the World War, was doing 
the same. 

Let us compare the Teutonic war parties of 1914 
with those of 1854. With the difference that in 
place of the defunct ringleaders we find their sons 
and nephews or other relatives — the personnel 
is almost identical. In the place of the Prussian 



56 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

Crown Prince who was plotting with the Beth- 
mann-Hollweg group of the Crimean War we 
find his grandson, Kaiser Wilhelm II; in place of 
Moritz von Bethmann-Hollweg, the original leader, 
we find his nephew, Theobald von Bethmann- 
Hollweg, the Chancellor who came into office in 
1909; General Von der Goltz has been replaced by 
his relative General von der Goltz Pasha, one 
of the greatest military writers of Germany and 
the organizer of the Turkish army; Count Pourtales 
is represented by his relative of the same name and 
title, who was German Ambassador in Petrograd 
at the outbreak of the World War; and finally 
Prince Fuerstenberg-Stammheim is represented 
by his relative Prince Egon Fuerstenberg, the 
Croesus of the aristocrats of Austria-Germany. 

In Austria, Emperor Francis Joseph alone sur- 
vived to see his youthful dream undertaken; 
Count Buol-Schauenstein was successively rep- 
resented by Counts Aehrenthal, Berchtold, Czer- 
nin, and Burian. As for Hungary, close relatives 
of Counts Tisza, Apponyi, and Andrassy, the 
great conspirators of the World War, were among 
the leading plotters for war against Russia in 1854. 

The same families, the same groups, the same 
business interests, court, aristocracy, big land 
owners, and big bankers. The pro-war bankers 
of 1854 as well as those of 1914 originated in the 
Semitic banking centre of Frankfort-on-the-Main 
in Germany, the birthplace of the Bethmann- 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 57 

Hollwegs, the Goldschmidts, the Seligmans, Jacob 
Schiff, and the Rothschilds. 

All the vast wealth of the banking house of the 
Rothschilds, amounting at the beginning of the 
war to some twenty billion francs, was made chiejfly 
in war operations, war financing. The Rothschild 
brothers of the Central Empires have in fact some- 
times financed simultaneously rival groups of 
belligerents. 

Frankfort-on-the-Main is, and has been for more 
than a hundred years, the chief source of financial 
backing for wars. Kings, emperors, and war min- 
isters have had to await the pleasure of these bank- 
ers before issuing their ultimata. To that centre 
have been added Vienna, Berlin, and Budapest, 
the other more important centres of Jewish world 
finance. In Vienna the Rothschilds' word is 
law; in Berlin the Hahnemans, Bleichroeders, 
Mendelssohns, especially the last named, who of 
late years have controlled Russia's finances. To 
these same sources may be traced the origin of the 
World War. In order to distinguish between the 
Hollweg groups of 1854 and 1914 let us designate 
them as Bethmann-Hollweg groups No. I and No. 
II, or that of the Crimean War and that of the 
World War. 

What prevented the HohenzoUerns and Haps- 
burgs from carrying out their plans in 1854.^' The 
firm but conciliatory policy of Russia: by immedi- 
ately withdrawing her troops from the Balkans, by 



58 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

her rapid concentration of a great army in Poland; 
and by the courage, discipline, and stubborn 
loyalty with which her armies fought the invasion 
of their country in the south; and were prepared 
to do the same in the west. Bismarck also played 
an important part in frustrating these designs. 
*' Prussia has no real cause for war with Russia," 
he said, and refused to be a party to these plans. 

Thus the Bethmann-HoUweg War Party of 1854 
finally sank into oblivion. But in the degree that 
Prussia grew stronger and bolder through the suc- 
cessful Bismarckian wars, this anti-Russian war 
party both in Austria-Hungary and Germany first 
raised its head again, during the Russo-Turkish 
War of 1878, but not until the weakening of Russia 
through the Russo-Japanese War was it restored 
to full vitality once more. The role of Count Buol 
of 1854-5 was played in 1878 by a Hungarian, 
Count Andrassy, the Minister for Foreign Affairs 
of Austria-Hungary. 

But not until a British fleet appeared before 
Constantinople to hold in check the victorious 
Russian armies which stood before the gates of that 
city, did Andrassy take heart. Great Britain's 
preparations for war and her declaration that Rus- 
sia must choose between war and a congress at 
which the Treaty of San Stefano should be revised 
instantly revived the bellicose spirit of Austria 
which had been somewhat dampened by her defeat 
at Sadowa in 1866 at the hands of Prussia. 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 59 

Incredible as it may seem, the "adventurous" 
diplomacy of D'Israeli, Russia's arch-hater, made 
it possible for Andrassy to enthrone Austria- 
Hungary in the Balkans by extorting at the Con- 
gress of Berlin the mandate for her occupation of 
Bosnia and Herzegovina. This prevented the 
solution of the Balkan question and still further 
whetted the territorial appetite of Austro-Hungar- 
ian diplomacy. So dangerous grew the situation 
that Bismarck was forced in 1887 to conclude with 
Russia his famous "Reinsurance Treaty" in order 
to checkmate the intrigues of the war advocates 
in Austria-Hungary and Germany who would 
have endangered his life work, the creation of the 
German Empire. The "Reinsurance Treaty" 
stipulated — according to recent disclosures — ^that 
in case either party became involved in war the 
other would preserve benevolent neutrality and do 
its best to keep other powers from coming in; 
exceptions being made in case of a Russian attack 
upon Austria or a German attack upon France. 

Germany, furthermore, recognized Russia's "his- 
torically acquired rights in the Balkan Peninsula, 
especially her preponderant influence in Bulgaria," 
and both parties pledged themselves to act in con- 
cert in Balkan affairs and to prevent any territorial 
changes there without their consent. Turkey 
was to be forbidden, under penalty of a Russo- 
German attack, to admit the armed forces of any 
other power to the Straits, as the British fleet 



60 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

had been admitted in 1878 when a Russian army 
sat outside Constantinople. 

So much for the treaty, which was secret. An 
appendix, described as "very secret," went still 
further. Above all, Germany promised benevolent 
neutrality in case Russia herself should undertake 
to seize the Bosphorus and hold it against any out- 
side power, and to give moral and diplomatic 
support to any steps which the Czar might find 
necessary "to keep the keys of his empire in his 
hands." 

Bismarck in his memoirs supported his Reinsur- 
ance policy with the following reflections : 

"I believe that it would be advantageous for 
Germany if the Russians in one way or another, 
physically or diplomatically, were to establish 
themselves at Constantinople and had to defend 
that position. We should then cease to be in the 
condition of being hounded on by England and 
occasionally also by Austria, and exploited by them 
to check Russian lust after the Bosphorus, and we 
should be able to wait and see if Austria were at- 
tacked and thereby our casus belli arose. 

"It would be better for the Austrian policy also 
to withdraw itself from the influence of Hungarian 
chauvinism until Russia had taken up a position 
on the Bosphorus, and had thereby considerably 
intensified its friction with the Mediterranean 
states — that is with England, and even with 
Italy and France — ^and so had increased the neces- 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 61 

sity of coming to an understanding with Austria 
a Vaimahle. Were I an Austrian minister I would 
not prevent the Russians going to Constantinople 
but I would not begin an understanding with 
them until they had made the move forward. 
Under any circumstances, the share which Austria 
has in the inheritance of Turkey will be arranged 
in understanding with Russia, and the Austrian 
portion will be all the greater the better they know 
at Vienna how to wait, and to encourage Russian 
policy to take up a more advanced position. As 
regards England, the position of modern Russia 
might perhaps be considered as improved if it 
ruled Constantinople; but as regards Austria and 
Germany, Russia would be less dangerous as long 
as it remained in Constantinople. It would no 
longer be possible for Prussia to blunder as it 
did in 1855, and to play ourselves out and hazard 
our stake for Austria, England, and France, in 
order to earn a humiliating admission to the 
congress and a mention honorable as a European 
Power."* 

Unfortunately this policy of Bismarck for pre- 
serving the peace between Germany, Austria- 
Hungary, and Russia was abandoned shortly after 
Kaiser Wilhelm II came to the throne and the 
old War Party received a new impetus. From 
the beginning of his reign the clamour for 
war against Russia grew every year bolder and 

*Bismarck's "Reflections and Reminiscences," Vol. II, pp. 288-289. 



62 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

louder. The Pan-German Party took the lead 
in this hue and cry and its publications were 
not only sanctioned but inspired by the Wilhelm- 
strasse. 

War, according to Prussian conceptions, being 
a business enterprise, Austria-Germany sought to 
secure its lasting beneiSts in a business-like way. 
Russia's national income is based on her exports 
to foreign countries; two thirds of those exports go 
by way of her Black Sea ports and thence through 
the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. These straits 
are Russia's real outlet. Once this outlet is closed, 
Russian commerce comes to a standstill and the 
nation is ruined. The other third of her exports 
go through the Baltic ports. The sea, therefore, 
is the life-giving medium which keeps Russia in 
touch with the outer world and makes possible 
her economic life. 

Austria-Germany's military plan was then a 
business plan: namely, to cut Russia off from the 
approaches to the sea both in the north and the 
south, in the Baltic and Black seas, and undoubt- 
edly to close forever against her the Dardanelles. 
Whoever owns the coast of a country owns its 
hinterland — Germany's "liberation" of the Baltic 
provinces, Austria's "liberation" of the Ukraine, 
were to be a cloak for the economic robbery, and 
hence the ultimate political annihilation, of Russia. 
No country can permanently import more com- 
modities than it can pay for with its exports. Thus 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 63 

might Russia be reduced to impotence and made a 
virtual colony of the Central Empires. Like a 
red thread is this idea woven into the great tissue of 
all Austro-German designs on Russia. Along these 
lines both Bethmann-HoUweg groups No. I and 
No. II conceived their plans. 

It took Bethmann-Hollweg and Co. sixty years 
to bring to realization that which Bismarck called 
their "Ausschlachtung" or "Zerstueckelung" of 
Russia — a butcher's term, meaning respectively 
the "carving out" of a slaughtered animal, and 
cutting it up into small portions. Of the original 
"partners" of the original joint-stock company 
one only, the Emperor Francis Joseph, lived long 
enough to see the great operation for which the 
company was founded actually begun. All the 
other partners had died and their places had beei 
taken by their heirs and successors. The task 
which the company set itself in the Crimean War 
was at that time much easier to accomplish. Four 
powers were already fighting Russia in the south 
— England, France, Sardinia, and Turkey. Had 
Prussia and Austria joined them as they planned, 
the ring would have been complete. In the sixty 
years that elapsed the magnitude of the task grew 
immeasurably, Russia had grown stronger both 
militarily and economically. To overthrow her 
quickly she must be invaded from all sides at the 
same time. Furthermore, modern wars are wars 
of peoples, of "peoples in arms" as the Germans 



64 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

put it. Preparations had to be widened and deep- 
ened. New silent associates had to be brought in 
and the scope of the whole enterprise had to be 
enlarged and so popularized as to win to its support 
the common people. The acquisition of new silent 
partners was an easy matter, as all the Germanic 
princes of Europe were eager to join Austria- 
Germany in such an enterprise. The nation-wide 
propaganda which had to be carried on at home was 
of a far more difficult nature. In 1854-55, when 
the peoples were ruled absolutely and decisions for 
war or peace were the sole concern of the rulers 
and a few powerful men, it actually sufficed, as 
Bismarck has said, to "exchange comprehensive 
secret memoranda among themselves" to bring 
things to a head. In these days this is impossible 
even in the most reactionary countries. In 1854 
rulers dealt with armies of 200,000 men; in modern 
wars millions have to be called to the colours. 
These people had to be told what there was in the 
enterprise to make it worth while to risk the lives 
of millions. Therefore war aims could no longer 
be kept secret. They had to be explained and 
popularized in the widest sense of the word. It 
would take an encyclopaedia to enumerate the 
literature that Austria and Germany used for this 
purpose. This voluminous Pan-German literature 
is well exemplified by two books which have never 
been translated into English and which are little 
known in the English-speaking world. One is 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 65 

entitled: *' Neither Communism nor Capitalism" 
{Weder Kommunismus noch Kapitalismus) , written 
by Dr. Karl Jentsch of Leipzig and published in 
1893. The other is called: '* Germany's Problems 
as a Great and World Power" {Deutschlands Auf- 
gaben als Gross-und Weltmacht) written by Otto 
Delffs and published in 1901. 

The quotations from these volumes which follow 
will show how the theory of Baron von Haxthausen- 
Abbenburg, already mentioned, was enlarged. 
These publications were among the first fruits of 
the Pan-German League, which was established in 
1890, in response to an editorial in the Koel- 
nische Zeitung, entitled: "Germany, Wake Up!" 
The Koelnische Zeitung is one of the principal or- 
gans of the German Catholic Party. Long before 
the World War it openly advocated war against 
Serbia and Russia; and, during the war, clamoured 
for annexations in the East. 

In his book Doctor Jentsch says of Russia: 

*'It has been said that Russia finds it necessary 
to have access to the Mediterranean, but this is 
nonsense. 

*'The Russians need for their existence only two 
things: that instead of Schnapps (brandy) there 
should be put into their hands hatchets, ploughs, 
and spades, and that in lieu of the knout they 
should be given intelligent leadership; both things 
we could bring them. ... In the East, there- 
fore, lies, quite naturally, the war danger, but not 



66 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

because Russia wants the Golden Horn but because 
Germany wants Russia's land. 

*' Germany and Austria, as the executors of the 
allied powers, should lead their land armies into 
Russia, while the other powers should assist them 
in their operations with their fleets. . . ." 

And later the author thus defines the modest lim- 
its of Pan-Germany. He says: 

"How would matters develop after the opening 
up of Russia and Asia Minor .'^ The colonist 
groups would form republics under the nominal 
suzerainty of the Czar and the Porte. The German 
colonists, spread over these wide areas, would be 
under the protection of the German Kaiser. In 
this manner the whole European East, as well as 
Asia Minor, would form one mighty German Em- 
pire, a rampart for European culture against Rus- 
sian and Mongol hordes, Germany becoming the 
Empire of empires. {Das Wahre Reich der echten 
Mitte.) 

"Whoever does not believe that the German 
nation, whose ancestors have crushed the Roman 
Empire and have once already dominated Europe, 
is capable of performing this task, should be 
ashamed of himself and had better give up his Ger- 
man name. . . ." 

In speaking of Germany's relation to Austria- 
Hungary the author says : 

" . . . . The union of Austria to Germany, 
through which alone the German power may 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 67 

become compact and solidified, belongs to the 
problems which our grandchildren will have to 
solve." 

Otto Delffs makes the following observations 
on Russia: 

"The first step is to get back into our fold the 
lost brother tribes on all sides; the second, our 
colonization of Siberia and Trans-Caucasia; the 
third, to push Russia back from the Baltic and 
Black seas and to settle their coasts with German 
colonists. Captain Mahan has established the 
guiding principle : 'Who rules the sea, rules also the 
land back of it' as we ourselves have established 
in Africa as our state maxim: 'He who owns the 
seacoast must own also the hinterland.' In 
view of these our claims we must without scruples 
force Russia to transfer her capital to Moscow 
and let her dream out her existence as a German 
enclave. 

"And for this same reason we must annihilate 
her before she gets too strong. The ''C aster um 
censeo Russiam esse delendaiii must become to 
every German of culture as familiar as the Pater 
Noster, and this annihilation must be a literal one; 
the complete elimination of Russia from the 
ranks of the Great Nations. If we are too short- 
sighted and pusillanimous eventually to claim the 
whole Russian Empire for ourselves and our allies, 
and consequently firmly to hold it, or if we are 
afraid of the colonization problems in the Vistula 



68 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

regions, then we must at the very least demand the 
cession of Siberia, as through this we get what we 
need above all — an intracontinental uninhabited 
colonization area with approximately a European 
climate . Later we could, if need be, crush the rest 
of the Muscovite Empire between our two buffers. 
Allies we will easily find and richly compensate: 
Hungarians, Rumanians, Turks, Scandinavians, 
Austrians, Chinese, and Japanese." 

Later he adds : 

"When, therefore, after the death of Francis 
Joseph, the collapse of the Danube Monarchy 
comes, we must stand ready to step in with strong 
hands and take over the heirloom of the Danube. 
The main thing in all this is that it must be done 
before Russia gets too strong." 

The learned Pan-German concludes with this 
scornful reference to the old-fashioned views of 
Prince Bismarck: 

*'But we have already outgrown Bismarck's 
narrow range of vision. In forming his plans, he 
did not foresee that we were firmly to establish 
ourselves in China and Asia Minor. Here our 
motto must be for the moment: * J'?/ suis, J'y 
reste.^ We are already placing Russia between 
two fires. But Bismarck had no idea of all this; 
otherwise he would have followed the wise counsel 
of the great Moltke and would have annihilated 
Russia when the time was ripe. In the year 1871 
or in 1881, after the death of Alexander, the oppor- 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 69 

tunity was offered to carry out this idea with rela- 
tive ease." 

As early as 1871, flushed with the victory over 
France, Field Marshal Von Moltke advised an 
immediate attack upon Russia. Again in 1881 
when Alexander I, the Czar-liberator and friend 
of the Slavs, died. Von Moltke urged the overthrow 
of Russia. 

This preliminary war propaganda was of two 
kinds, according to the composition of the peoples 
from whom the fighting material was sought—' 
Pan-Germanic and Pan-Turanian; the first was 
used with all the Germanic peoples in the alli- 
ance; the second with all Turanian or Ugro- 
Mongol peoples. It may suffice here to say that 
to win them over the war-makers played on all 
the passions, hatreds, cupidity, religious intoler- 
ance, etc., of all the peoples. 

Indeed, Germany's world policy since the time 
of Bismarck, and especially during the time of 
Kaiser Willielm II, was stupendous. By estab- 
lishing herself in Morocco, she sought to drive the 
British from Egypt, and to bring both doors of 
the Mediterranean Sea and the sea route to India 
and the Far East into her hands; through her 
policy in Asiatic Turkey she aimed to create for 
herself a sure road on dry land to the Indian Ocean ; 
and through the continuation of the Bagdad Road, 
to reach through Persia the gates of India. 
Through her policy in Central Africa, Germany 



70 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

sought to prevent England from building the 
Transafrican Cape-to-Cairo Railway. By the 
irrigation of Mesopotamia and the final settle- 
ment of that country by German immigrants, she 
planned to prevent Russia from reaching a south- 
ern port. Finally, Constantinople was and is 
the real key to Austro-German world policy, for 
this great cosmopolitan city was the apex and 
common meeting point for the two territorial 
triangles which Austro-German diplomacy had 
constructed for itself — one spreading out like a 
fan north and northwest into Europe, the other 
running south and southeast into Asia: the first 
extending on its one side through Salonica and 
Trieste to Antwerp and Rotterdam in the north 
and on its other side extending from Constantinople 
through the delta of the Danube and Kieff as far 
north as Reval. This triangle, then, embraced 
the following territories: the empires of Germany 
and Austria-Hungary with Holland and Belgium 
added to those of Germany, and the Balkans 
with Rumania added to Austria-Hungary, while 
Poland and Little Russia under the joint domina- 
tion of the two Teutonic empires comprised the 
remaining territory within it. The other triangle 
included the whole of Asiatic Turkey, Persia, and 
Arabia as far as the distant lands of India. 

Constantinople was, therefore, the keystone 
in the arch of Germany's world power and world 
greatness. Around this pivotal point centred 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 71 

Germany's world policy, directed — ^both militarily 
and economically — on the one side against Russia, 
on the other against Great Britain. Deprived 
of Constantinople as the centre from which to 
direct the destinies of these vast territories, the 
whole structure, consolidated with so much blood 
and iron, has crumbled, and the German hege- 
mony over Europe and the world has vanished. 
England remains mistress of the seas, and a 
regenerated Russia must break through to the 
south and again find access to the life-giving sea. 
That Germany may absorb Russia through com- 
mercial penetration before this regeneration has 
had time to take place is now the greatest danger 
which faces not only Russia but the world. 



CHAPTER IV 

The Ofener Hofburg War Conference 
October, 1912 

bethman-hollweg commits germany to war, 
december, 191^ 

4LL the actors in this war drama — ^Forgach, 
/_\ Franz, Tanczos, Hann, and their numerous 
.X 9l satelHtes, foiled, humiHated, and discred- 
ited, had been removed from the Imperial stage 
and were, with what patience they could summon, 
awaiting their re-engagement. All, that is, except 
their supreme leader, Count Aehrenthal and his 
royal sponsor, the Archduke Francis Ferdinand. 
Aehrenthal, discredited, feared, hated, almost 
blind, a broken and dying man, although compar- 
atively young, was forced in bitterness to realize 
that he could no longer achieve his consuming 
ambition for the conquest, destruction, and parti- 
tion of the country whose hospitality he had en- 
joyed for ten long years. Even the brilliance of 
the Great Cross which his master, Francis Joseph, 
"the All Highest," now conferred upon him, could 
not dispel his gloom. Nor was his despondency 
lessened by being involuntarily placed upon the 

72 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 73 

retired list a few hours before his end in order 
that his Countess on his death might draw the 
pension of a former Minister instead of the hberal 
allowance bestowed upon the widows of those who 
die in office. 

The dying man summoned to his sick bed his 
understudy and successor, Count Berchtold, and 
to him confided his state secrets and implored 
him to continue with all his energy the programme 
and policy of the War Party, just as he had con- 
tinued Austria's underground work as his successor 
in Petrograd. Not much more than two years 
later Berchtold fulfilled the dying trust of his 
predecessor; the great war was a ghastly reality. 

Just as Aehrenthal's plans were for the time up- 
set by the unexpected Turkish Revolution, so 
were Berchtold's thrown into confusion by the 
still more unexpected Balkan Alliance followed by 
the Balkan Wars. When our General Staff and 
Foreign Office, which since the advent to power 
of Aehrenthal had been one soul in two bodies, 
learned that Serbia and Bulgaria were allied and 
about to enter the baptism of fire as brothers in 
arms, they were for the moment paralyzed with 
rage and amazement. As the Literary Section 
of the Foreign Office expressed it: "Enemies to 
the death have become friends." 

For the benefit of those not familiar with Balkan 
affairs it should here be explained that the Balkan 
Peninsula is surrounded by three seas and forms 



74 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

a mosaic of small and great nations, Greeks, Turks, 
Albanians, and Slavs, of whom the Slavs form the 
great majority of the population, extending in an 
unbroken stretch of territory from the Soca 
(Isonzo), that is, from the confines of Italy, to the 
shores of the Black Sea. For two thousand years 
the land has been cursed by bloody, racial, religious, 
and dynastic wars. Neither all-powerful Rome 
of the Western Empire, nor cunning Byzantium 
of the Eastern Empire; neither the Bulgarian 
Simons nor the Serbian Dushans had succeeded 
in welding the peoples of the Peninsula into organic 
unity. Through the centuries the Balkan Penin- 
sula, with its vast stores of undeveloped mineral 
wealth, has been the coveted prey of Eurasiatic 
conquerors. It is to-day the beautiful Helen of 
Troy for whose possession was started this last 
titanic Trojan war. 

At the time of which we are writing there were 
two proposed solutions for the never-ending Ballcan 
turmoil and bloodshed, one Russian and the other 
Austrian. The Russian solution sought, through 
the confederation of the autonomous national 
states bound together by a custom's union and 
a military convention and represented by one 
diplomatic body, to build up on the Peninsula 
a powerful state which should be the tenth world 
power. The Austrian solution aimed to perpetu- 
ate the turmoil by engendering rivalry and hatred 
among the several states until it should be possi- 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 75 

ble for Austria gradually to absorb or crush them 
and finally to bring the whole Peninsula into a 
position of vassalage to the Hapsburg crown. 

The Balkan Alliance was the first step in carry- 
ing into effect the Russian plan. It was brought 
about by Russian diplomacy. Russia felt that 
only through the creation of an alliance between 
the Balkan States could she liberate the Christian 
peoples of the Peninsula from the Turkish yoke 
and protect Serbia's independence from the en- 
croachments of Austria. After long and difficult 
conferences the "Serbian-Bulgarian Treaty" of 
March 13, 1912, was negotiated. This treaty 
provided that each power should help the other 
with all its forces if attacked, and that both to- 
gether should guarantee to prevent the occupation, 
even temporarily, of any portion of the Peninsula 
by any other power; and that in the event of war 
neither state should under any circumstances 
make a separate peace. The treaty was to remain 
in force until September 31, 1920. To the original 
treaty was added a secret treaty which stipulated 
the portions of Macedonia which should go to 
each country in case of a war with Turkey and 
the occupation of Macedonia. In case of dispute 
between the parties to the treaty, the Czar of 
Russia was to be the arbitrator. A few months 
later the treaty was completed by a mihtary con- 
vention between the two states to which Monte- 
negro and Greece later adhered. 



76 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

During my service in Serbia I had never tired of 
pointing out to the Bulgarian diplomats the great 
advantages which would accrue to both countries 
and to all Slavs from an economic and military 
alliance between Bulgaria and Serbia and the cor- 
responding dangers from hostility between these 
neighbouring states. Consequently in those Oc- 
tober days of 1912 one of my life-long dreams 
seemed about to be realized. Slavs the world over, 
whether in Austria-Hungary, the Balkans, Russia, 
America, Africa, or Australia, rejoiced at this mani- 
festation of Slav solidarity. 

To show how completely Austro-Hungarian 
diplomacy was caught unawares by the outbreak 
of the Balkan Wars, on October 12, 1912, when Herr 
von Ugron, our Minister at Belgrade, was asked 
by a correspondent of the Neue Freie Presse, the 
principal Austrian war organ, whether there was 
any danger of war between Serbia and Turkey, he 
replied: "Does this peaceful city suggest the out- 
break of war? " On October 14th, Serbia, Bulgaria, 
and Greece presented their ultimatum to Turkey, 
demanding autonomy for Macedonia, and four 
days afterward the actual fighting started. In 
spite of its feverish suspicion and army of well-paid 
spies, the Ballplatz had been caught napping. 
This caused an outburst of indignation and ac- 
cusation in the German and Magyar circles of 
Vienna and Budapest. 

My service in Serbia had also made it clear to 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 77 

me that little as we wanted Serbia to enter this 
alliance and this war we were at bottom the cause 
for her action — that is, that our policy of economic 
strangulation toward her had forced her to try- 
drastic remedies in self-defence. During my two 
years' service in Belgrade and Nish I had come into 
closer touch with the Serbian exporters, merchants, 
and peasants than had any other member of our dip- 
lomatic or consular corps. I knew their fundamen- 
tal problem was how to export their farm products. 
I knew that our government had deliberately made 
this problem all but insoluble. Serbia is an agricul- 
tural country with cattle and hogs, wheat, corn, 
and prunes to export. For the last eight years, since 
the overthrow of the pro-Austrian Obrenovitch 
dynasty, the country had, in spite of our efforts at 
strangulation, been in a state of rapid economic 
development. 

The iniquitous Congress of Berlin of 1878 had 
given Serbia impossible boundaries. She had no 
harbour, no outlet to the life-giving sea. She 
was almost surrounded by the high tariff walls of 
Austria and Turkey. For Serbian exports there 
were three routes only: the Danube down stream 
across Rumania to the harbours of the Black 
Sea; the Danube up stream and the railway via 
Budapest- Vienna through Austro-Hungarian ter- 
ritory; and the Belgrade-Uskub-Salonica railroad 
through Turkish territory. Our economic policy 
toward Serbia was dictated by the big export 



78 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

houses of Vienna and the big Magyar swine- 
breeders of Hungary, the so-called "swine barons. " 
The first group aimed to monopolize for their prod- 
ucts the Serbian market and the second to prevent 
Serbia from competing with them in the great 
food markets of Vienna and Berlin; by their 
monopoly of which markets they were enabled 
constantly to raise their prices. 

But the almost prohibitive duties on Serbian 
products were not enough to satisfy the greed of 
the Magyar "swine barons." They developed 
a device for shutting off the importation of Serbian 
swine completely and at will. This device was 
simplicity itself. There was a Hungarian veteri- 
nary attached to our Belgrade Consulate. When- 
ever the "swine barons" desired a complete monop- 
oly of the hog market or whenever our diplomacy 
desired to extort from Serbia some further political 
or economic favour, we would learn that disease 
was rampant among Serbian live stock which would 
infect our own stock unless importations were 
stopped. The Hungarian veterinary would then 
be called upon to investigate. His researches 
always confirmed the worst fears of our diplomats, 
and Serbian importations were stopped. The 
fact that no country in Europe had a better health 
record for its live stock than Serbia made no 
difference to this veterinary and from his decision 
there was no appeal. Doctor Kramarz, the fore- 
most authority on foreign relations among the 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 79 

Austrian Slavs, said in commenting on this treat- 
ment of Serbia: "No nation can very well depend 
for its existence upon a Hungarian veterinary 
doctor." 

Our repressive measures went further than an 
attempt to monopolize Serbian markets for our 
products while keeping Serbian products out of our 
markets. We actually tried to prevent her from 
securing markets elsewhere. We prohibited her 
from exporting via Croatia-Trieste to Italy. We 
would not allow her to transport her wheat destined 
for Belgium via the Danube and through Austria- 
Hungary. She was therefore obliged to take it all 
the way down the Danube to the Black Sea and 
then through the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. 

It should be added that our government pur- 
sued exactly the same policy of economic oppres- 
sion also toward its own southern Slav provinces, 
such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, except that 
having absolute control over them we could be, 
and we were, more ruthless in their oppressive 
exploitation. 

Through the elimination of some of these 
flagrant injustices during my brief term at the head 
of the Consulate General in Belgrade the Serbian 
exports more than doubled during the next year. 
This showed how rapidly Serbia could develop 
if given opportunity. Is it any wonder that one 
of Serbia's great patriots cried out in despair: 
"I would give my life if I could take my country 



80 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

on my back and carry her away from the hostile 
combination which surrounds her!" 

The only solution for Serbia was a port on the 
Adriatic Sea, to be reached either through an 
autonomous Albania, or better, through a strip 
of northern Albania ceded to Serbia for the pur- 
pose. With such an outlet for her products Serbia 
would be in a position to negotiate a commercial 
treaty with Austria-Hungary in which not quite 
all the advantages would be on the side of Austria- 
Hungary, as had always been the case heretofore. 
All these facts show what inimitable, unconscious 
humourists inspired oui* "Literary Bureau" to 
circulate at this time the slogan that "Austria 
was again called upon to save a Balkan people 
just as, through the Congress of Berlin, she had 
saved Bosnia and Herzegovina."* What our 
"Literary Bureau" did not say to our peoples 
and to Europe in general was that our diplomats 
and statesmen were mortally afraid for the security 
of the old empire. With the prices for food and 
all necessaries of life soaring higher every year, 
with discontent increasing among its peoples, our 
statesmen found it necessary to rule Hungary 
by the brutal force of a Tisza and a Lukacs; Croa- 
tia and Slavonia with the dictatorship of a Cuvaj; 
to threaten Bosnia and Herzegovina with absolut- 



*Now that Austria-Hungary and Germany are eliminated from the Bal- 
kans, Italy is the only Power which threatens to continue the "meddling 
policy" instead of leaving the Balkans to the Balkanians. 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 81 

ism; to establish in Croatia a military dictatorship. 
Slovenia and Bohemia were placed at the mercy 
of German reactionaries, while Galicia was in a 
state of latent revolt, because of our encourage- 
ment of the rivalry between the Poles andRuthenes. 
The Slovaks of North Hungary were dominated 
by the Magyars, while the peasants of Hungary 
were exploited by the gentry and the Jews. 

Events followed one another with such rapidity 
in the Balkan War that it was impossible for our 
Foreign Office to formulate any constructive policy 
to rob the Balkan Allies of the fruits of their mili- 
tary successes. Consequently Count Berchtold 
came out with the negative policy of preserving 
the "status quo"; no matter what the military 
results no territorial changes should be allowed. 
In order to avoid complications which might lead 
to a general European war Russia agreed to this 
policy. The most apt criticism of Berchtold's 
proposal was made by the Serbian Minister of 
Finance, Mr. Pacu, who in an interview in Bel- 
grade, in the middle of October, said: *' Europe 
is for peace, but there is no peace. Peace in the 
Balkans is a never-ceasing, an exhausting war. 
Europe is for the * status quo,' but the 'status 
quo' is chaos. Where was the 'status quo' when 
Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia and Herzego- 
vina? Why did not the Great Powers guard the 
'status quo' when Italy seized Tripoli .^^ As a 
matter of fact, the 'status quo' does not exist 



82 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

for the Great Powers. They remember it only 
when our needs are in question. They treat us 
as they treat Moroccans. They conspire behind 
our backs and then show us their notes or more 
properly present us with their commands, saying: 
'Shut up you there in the Balkans.' Europe 
regards Turkey as its heirloom, but the Powers 
cannot agree over the division of the spoils. 
Therefore Europe protects Turkey." But even 
this *' status quo" formula was only a diplomatic 
cloak with which to hide the real purposes of our 
diplomacy. 

On the night of October 9, 1912, four days 
before Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece presented their 
ultimatum to Turkey, a joint session of the Aus- 
trian Ministerial Council took place which lasted 
until three o'clock the next morning. At this 
meeting our new credits for armaments were dis- 
cussed and it was agreed to ask for 400,000,000 
kronen, 250,000,000 for the army and 150,000,000 
for new men-of-war. This item is especially signifi- 
cant since these ships could not be launched in 
time to be used in connection with any war that 
might result from the tension existing between 
the Balkan allies and Turkey. It was a patent 
absurdity that a nation of 52,000,000 inhabitants, 
rated the second strongest military power in the 
world, should require enormous special military 
credits in order to go to war with Serbia, a nation 
of only two and a half million people. The long- 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 83 

planned war against Russia was, therefore, the 
only possible explanation. In order not to arouse 
the suspicions of Europe we announced the formula 
that we were going to place our southern frontier 
on a "reinforced peace footing." 

Immediately after this conference the "Liter- 
ary" Bureau began its propaganda for the Ball- 
platz. In reference to Serbia's known desire for 
a harbour on the Adriatic it was said that if Serbia 
had such a harbour it would in effect be a Russian 
port. As soon as the Balkan War opened we 
started to sow seeds of dissension between Bulgaria 
and Serbia. One inspired article said: "After the 
war against Turkey what will happen to poor 
and so-often deluded Serbia at the hands of Bul- 
garia will form a laughable comedy or a tragedy 
that will bring tears to the eyes according to the 
sympathies of the spectator." In order to offset 
this propaganda as far as possible, Doctor Kramarz, 
the Czech leader and authority on foreign afifairs, 
made a speech in the Austrian Delegations in which 
he said: "If the Balkan peoples win a permanent 
victory then will one of the greatest menaces to 
the peace of the world have been removed with 
sacrifices which will be slight in comparison with 
those of a world war. This is the psychological 
moment for Austria, while guarding her economic 
interests in the Balkans, to win the sympathies 
of the Balkan peoples." 
I How differently our Foreign OflBce viewed the 



84 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

situation was shown when Count Berchtold spoke 
of *' Austria's protectorate over the Roman CathoHc 
Church in Albania." Freed of diplomatic camou- 
flage this meant that we should intervene in Al- 
bania so as to be able to attack Serbia on her flank 
and come to the rescue of Turkey. Speaking the 
same day in the Hungarian Delegations Berch- 
told said: "The monarchy stands for the * status 
quo ante bellum'. We have in the Balkans vital 
interests touching our very existence and we are 
determined to guard them under all circum- 
stances." These words should be borne strictly 
in mind because they are almost identical with 
those spoken by him in the critical days of March, 
1913. Light was thrown upon what was meant 
by the guarding of "our vital interests" by an 
inspired article appearing soon after the speech 
which said: "Austria-Hungary can no more toler- 
ate the formation on her southern frontier of a 
combination of powers hostile to the monarchy 
than could she tolerate being cut off from the 
great thoroughfares of the world." In the same 
article our attitude toward Russia was illuminated 
by these phrases: "It is difficult to speak of Serbia 
without thinking of Russia," and again: "It is 
difficult to see that what is Serbian is not at the 
same time Russian." 

The threadbare rumour that our Minister in 
Belgrade had been assassinated was again cir- 
culated on the very evening when Maximilian 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 85 

Harden, the great German publicist, arrived from 
Berlin to make the keynote speech in this campaign 
of our War Party. He spoke before a distinguished 
audience which included the Foreign Minister, 
Count Berchtold, and a dozen of the leading gen- 
erals of our army. He first referred affectingly 
to "the sad report which he had just heard that 
Herr Von Ugron, your Minister in Belgrade, has 
been treacherously murdered." "Russia," he said, 
"needs at least a year and a half from the purely 
military standpoint to be ready for war, and even 
then it will be a great question whether her internal 
political situation will permit her to withdraw from 
the interior her few trustworthy elite troops with- 
out endangering the dynasty. France, on her 
part," he added, "has at the moment no powder." 
He said further: "All the difficulties which Austria- 
Hungary has had of late years and which it has 
to-day, spring from the fact that it is the companion 
of the German Empire, both together forming 
the Greater Germany which knows no frontiers. 
Should we not succeed this time in opening the 
way into the ^Egean and the Black seas for Ger- 
manic hegemony, then have we reached the be- 
ginning of the end. Germany is concerned that 
the way to Salonica shall not be blocked. The 
question is not," he continued, "whether one is 
for war or peace; on the contrary, it is our duty 
to make war at the time best suited to us and not 
our enemies, because in the future we shall not be 



86 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

able to stave off the war. In this world-historic, 
grave, psychological, and critical moment for 
Austria-Hungary and Germany it is essential 
that we be guided by a single purpose. You 
may," he said, in conclusion, *'draw the frontier 
to which you will permit others to grow; when 
you have once found that line I solcnnily exhort 
you not to give in a hair's breadth. Do not let 
yourselves be induced to go to a European con- 
ference where a majority would decide against 
you. Every war is justified, even against a small 
people, if it is for the purpose of guarding national 
prestige and if it brings advantage to your coun- 
try." Some of us recalled this speech of the mis- 
sionary of the German war party when in 1914 
our government turned a deaf ear to tlie entreaties 
of (ireat Britain, France, and Russia that we sub- 
mit our controversies with Serbia to a conference 
of the Great Powers. Also when the German 
Kaiser stated that he could not be a party to 
"dragging his ally before a European tribunal." 

This speech of Ilarden's applied to the then- 
existing conditions and to the philosophy and 
principles of the Austrian and German war par- 
ties. For Austria these principles and this phi- 
losophy of international relations had been set forth 
in the Ocsicrrcichischc Riindschaii^ in an article 
by General of Infantry, Emil von Woinovich, en- 
titled: "War Fear." This was a review of an 

•Vol. 30-31, Jan., June, 19H. pp. f 13-8. 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 87 

article called "The Policy of Concentrated Arma- 
ments" which had appeared a month before in 
Danzer's Armee Zeitung under the signature, Salva- 
tor R. This article caused a sensation, particularly 
because Count Julius Andrassy, Jr., published at 
the same time a statement in which he said: 
"There should be no war party in Austria-Hungary 
because only imbeciles can desire war." Salvator 
R., whose opinions were admiringly set forth by 
General Woinovich, an Austrian minor edition 
of Bernhardi, held the opposite view. The Gen- 
eral said: "Without regard to the opinions and 
sentiments in vogue, Salvator R. opposes with 
pitiless logic the opinion that war, as is generally 
believed, is the worst evil. He holds, on the con- 
trary, that the peace which Europe has maintained 
for a generation is foul stagnation. By war he 
hopes to purify tlie social and political atmosphere. 
The many unsolved social and political questions 
between the states and the state groups of Europe 
are distasteful to him. He wants, therefore, a 
radical solution by the sword after the example 
that has been set us from time immemorial by 
the greatest genuises and the mightiest states and 
nations. He advocates this radical solution by 
the sword at a moment when the political constellations 
are favourable and our military strength is at its 
highest point. Salvator R. therefore strongly ad- 
vocates the surprise attach as a matter of war 
policy, which surprise attack he characterizes as an 



88 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

unprecedented concentration of all one^s forces in tJie 
space of a few years, brought about through a supreme 
effort of all the military and political forces of the state, 
followed at once by an attack upon the enemy. This 
artificial calling forth of war must not be considered 
as frivolous or unprecedented. It has, on the 
contrary, happened many a time in the last hun- 
dred years. For instance, ' Cavour brought on 
deliberately through proddings the war against 
Austria in 1859, as is admitted by the work of the 
Italian General Staff which appeared not long ago. 
Bismarck, through the alteration of the Ems tele- 
gram, brought about the Franco-Prussian War at 
the moment which best suited him. This can be 
attained only by a war policy which stands above 
the situation, dominating and leading it, a policy 
which is concentrated upon well-defined objectives 
to be achieved at definite times, after the manner 
of Frederick the Great, Napoleon, Bismarck, 
Cavour, or Japan. Also we may say that Prince 
Kaunitz with wonderful skill precipitated the 
Seven Years' War, and our great Empress, Marie 
Theresa, did not hesitate a moment to assume 
responsibility for it. To speak of the horrors of 
war is to-day, at least in wars between civilized 
people, an anachronistic exaggeration. Even wars 
with an unhappy issue have often helped the re- 
birth of states which were on a decline, as was 
the case with Prussia in 1806 and with Austria 
in 1866. It seems almost as if states and peoples 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 89 

needed wars from time to time, because otherwise 
they would sink into a moral morass." 

Not long after Maximilian Harden had delivered 
his speech in Vienna there was a great war rally 
in the Ofener Hofburg, the royal palace in Budapest, 
at which momentous decisions were reached — 
decisions calculated to preserve the peoples of 
Austria-Hungary from sinking into the "moral 
morass" so dreaded by General Woinovich and all 
the other members of the war party. This rally 
corresponded precisely both in personnel and sub- 
jects discussed with a similar gathering held in 
1908 when it was thought that Serbia and Russia 
would fight rather than accept the illegal seizure 
of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The personages were 
identical, that is, with one exception: in the place 
of the late Count Aehrenthal sat his successor, 
Count Berchtold. Then, as now, Herr Von 
Tschirschky, the German Ambassador, had an 
audience with the old emperor just before the con- 
ference. From a high personage whom I may not 
name I heard these comments on this great confer- 
ence. The German Ambassador had brought to our 
Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm's carte blanche for im- 
mediate war upon Serbia and Russia. Francis 
Ferdinand and Berchtold also had audiences with 
the Emperor just before the conference. When 
the conference convened under the presidency 
of the old emperor. Archduke Francis Ferdinand, 
supported by Count Berchtold, the former Chief 



90 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

of Staff, General Conrad von Hoetzendorf, and 
the joint Minister of War for Austria-Hungary, 
carried the meeting for immediate war, or war as 
soon as it could be precipitated. To Berchtold 
was assigned the task of arranging in the shortest 
possible time a suitable casus belli. Also these 
questions were decided at this conference: an 
independent Albania should be created; the pro- 
posed Danube-Adriatic Railway should run ex- 
clusively through Austrian territory and not 
through Serbian territory to San Giovanni di 
Medua, or Durazzo, as desired by Serbia; 200,000 
men from the military classes of the last three years 
in six army corps should be immediately mobilized. 

In order that Turkey might be free to resist 
Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, and Montenegro with all 
her powers, Germany and Austria had, some weeks 
before this royal war conference, vigorously urged 
their ally, Italy, to make peace with the Ottoman 
Empire. Italy promptly followed this highly disin- 
terested advice and on October 15, 1912, signed 
with Turkey the peace treaty of Ouchy. 

In commenting on this imperial conference, the 
war party's paper, the Neue Freie Presse, made 
this significant statement: "We feel that a great 
hour is near in which will fall the decision for war 
or peace and that the destiny of this ancient empire 
and the peace of the world depend upon what is 
now happening in the Ofener Hofburg." Also 
the writer sees in the great event "the sign of the 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 91 

clenched hand raised about to strike." This was 
the Austrian version of *'the mailed fist" of the 
German Kaiser. 

In order to carry out this policy we needed not 
only the backing of Germany but the consent 
of Italy. Accordingly, Count Berchtold had gone 
to Italy where on the 23d of October, 1912, at 
San Rossore, he had had an interview with the 
Italian Foreign Minister, San Giuliano, who as- 
sented to our so-called status quo policy in the 
Balkans in recognition of our friendly neutrality 
during Italy's war for Tripoli. 

Five days later the Berliner Tageblatt announced 
that it had learned "from leading Viennese circles" 
that *'the monarchy (Austria-Hungary) will ac- 
tively intervene in the Balkans if the status quo 
should not be observed." A week later we dis- 
patched a naval division to Balkan waters "for 
the protection of our interests." On November 
5th Marquis di San Giuliano, the Italian Foreign 
Minister, went to Berlin where on the 8th he had 
a conference with Kiederlen-Waechter, the German 
Foreign Secretary, and Herr Von Szogyeny-Marich, 
our Ambassador in Berlin. It was the day after 
this interview and just before the imperial war 
conference in Budapest that Herr Von Tschirschky, 
the German Ambassador, had his famous audience 
with the Emperor, Francis Joseph, at which he 
delivered his imperial master's carte blanche for 
the war. 



92 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

This conference produced a profound effect 
upon the peoples of Austria-Hungary. A dread 
foreboding of calamity fell among them which a 
friend of mine described as like the "Chiliastic 
terror" of the end of the world which spread dread 
throughout Europe in the one thousandth year 
after the birth of Christ. This foreboding was by no 
means abated by the fulminations of the Ballplatz 
press. Baron Chlumetzky, the mouthpiece of the 
Foreign Minister, issued a statement in which he 
said: "Serbia must know that Germany stands 
back of Austria-Hungary at this time just as she 
did at the time of the annexation." "Serbia is 
the pathfinder of Russia," was another official 
comment. The Budapesti Naplo, an organ of 
the Hungarian Government, declared openly: 
"Serbia must never occupy Albania. This is so 
important for us that if not to-day, then to-morrow, 
we must go to war to prevent it." 

While this agitation was going on, the Goeben 
of subsequent World War fame suddenly appeared 
off Malta on November 12th. The transportation 
to Bosnia of 200,000 reservists, just called to the 
colours from all parts of the monarchy, was begun. 
At the same time, the joint Minister of Finance, 
Herr Von Bilinski and Premier Wekerle of Hun- 
gary, conferred with representatives of the large 
banking and credit institutions, to facilitate the 
raising of two and one half billion kronen for a 
three months' campaign, a third of which was 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 93 

designated exclusively for the Diobilization of our 
troops. The gold reserve in the vaults of Austria- 
Hungary was about to be commandeered as a war 
treasure. 

But while oflBcial Austria was straining every 
nerve to start the war the subject nationalities 
of the empire were violently opposing our policy 
of bellicose meddling in the Balkans. Especially 
loud in this condemnation were the Czechs, Croats, 
Slovenes, and the Ruthenes of Galicia. So de- 
termined was this protest that a German deputy 
in the Reichsrat actually advised against the war 
because, as he said, "the great majority of the 
Slavs of the monarchy are opposed to it." 

But these protests had not the slightest effect 
in modifying the bellicose course of our govern- 
ment. The Department of the Interior had been 
given the task of lining up for the war the various 
political parties. The Polish deputies from Gali- 
cia were told that events in Russian Poland might 
have fatal consequences for the Austrian Poles. 
Baron Werburg, our Consul General in Warsaw, 
with a host of spies and agents provocateurs, working 
chiefly through Socialists and Jewish organiza- 
tions, was stirring up the spirit of revolt against 
the Russian Government. By the same means 
we worked incessantly among the members of the 
Polish Social Democratic Parliamentary club in 
Vienna. So successful were these efforts that on 
October 25th this club passed the following resolu- 



94 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

tion: "As the legal representatives of the Polish 
people, we express our conviction that in the event- 
ual conflict between Austria-Hungary and Russia, 
all the forces of the Polish people must be directed 
against Russian Czarism." This resolution con- 
cluded with an appeal to the Russian Poles to 
show "a common front against our greatest 
enemy." 

At the same time leaflets were circulated, through 
the agency of our Socialists, among the Polish work- 
men throughout Russian Poland urging them, 
when called to the colours on the outbreak of 
hostilities, to destroy as far as possible all military 
materials, to "spoil everything that could aid the 
Russian armies in their advance," and above all, 
"to let themselves be taken prisoners." The all- 
Polish organ, Sloivo Polskie of Lwow, capital of 
Galicia, published an article which concluded with 
these words: "In holding before its eyes the re- 
construction of the Kingdom of Poland, the Polish 
nation must hold itself in readiness for war at any 
moment." These anti-Russian and pro-German 
protestations occurred at the very time when the 
forcible expropriation of Polish estates in the 
German Ostmark was at its height. In this cam- 
paign the Socialist, Polish, Jewish, and Pan-German 
press was ably supported by organs controlled 
by the Vatican. Among these the Oesterreichs 
Katholische Sonntags Blatt came out at the begin- 
ning of the first Balkan war with this declaration: 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 95 

"Our ideal is not to perpetuate European Turkey, 
but to bring the Balkan Peninsula into the posses- 
sion of Catholic Austria and the Catholic Church.'* 
This ideal was thus defended in their issue of Octo- 
ber 27th: "Just as a violent storm refreshes and 
cleanses the oppressive atmosphere, so we hold 
when it once comes to real war the moral and 
economic gain to Europe will in the end be very 
great. The social democracy is not yet strong 
enough to prevent a war. As a result of the emo- 
tional pressure of a European war it will break to 
pieces with its millions of casual followers, and under 
the same pressure modern liberalism will also 
break down. It will not hurt Europe if its condi- 
tions are for once well shaken up." Likewise 
the organ of the Catholic movement in Germany, 
Das Katholisehe Deutschland, said in its issue of 
October 6, 1912, only a few days before the out- 
break of the Balkan War: "But Austria will not 
be negligent. It has already determined not to 
allow Serbia to take the Sandjak of Novi Bazar 
[old Serbia] which long since should have become 
Austrian. Therefore Austria must take it. With 
Austria's troops in readiness the military progress 
will probably continue to the gates of Constanti- 
nople. And we can only exclaim: 'Good luck to 
you, Austria!' May the rotten Turks be driven 
once for all from Europe! The Turks who in ad- 
dition to their dirty Islamism have become Free- 
Masons and on that account doubly hate Christian- 



96 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

ity. Constantinople must belong to Western Euro- 
pean Christendom and not remain under the Turks 
or go to the Russians. May Austria act as supreme 
arbitrator between the Balkan States, for which 
position she is especially fitted. May it have the 
glory of planting again the Catholic Cross on St. 
Sophia! It truly deserves this glory after its 
century-old strife against Islamic culture. Good 
luck to you, Austria! Don't let yourself be dis- 
turbed! England is afraid of us. Russia is rent 
by revolution. France has spoiled powder, and 
has not invented new powder, and Germany stands 
behind thee. Now or never Russia's game may 
be spoiled." 

This pro-war campaign was brought to its high- 
water mark by the speech of the German Chancel- 
lor, Doctor Bethmann-HoUweg, delivered on the 
second of December, 1912. He said: "Germany 
will stand at the side of its ally, Austria; and, if 
needs be, will fight." A word as to the heredity 
of Bethmann-HoUweg will, we believe, be il- 
luminating at this point. His family came from 
the Netherlands whence it had fled to escape the 
persecution of the Jews to the little town of Nas- 
sau near Frankfort-on-the-Main. Here, where the 
Bethmanns may be traced back to the seventeenth 
century, the forefathers of Bethmann-Hollweg 
had a great banking house, under the firm name 
of Bethmann, which handled big state loans for 
Austria. (It should be noted here that at Frankfort- 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 97 

on-the-Main was also located the original Roths- 
child banking house which also handled great war 
loans for the Austrian Government.) Emperor 
Francis I of Austria elevated the Bethmanns to 
the nobility. Soon after this, in 1854, a son of 
the banker Bethmann was created a Baron by the 
King of Baden. His daughter married a Johann 
Jakob Hollweg, who became the founder of the 
family of Bethmann-Hollweg. Two of Bethmann- 
Hollweg's sisters were married to land junkers of 
East Prussia. 

The German and Magyar press in both empires 
'gloated over the Chancellor's admission that 
Germany would "fight." They applauded the 
wisdom of Germany's decision "not to allow its ally 
to be beaten down and the enemy to come up to her 
own walls, but to be beforehand in the defence of 
her frontiers." The leader of the National Liberal 
Party said in the Reichstag, in support of the Chan- 
cellor: "Germany must stand firmly and faith- 
fully beside Austria." The press of both govern- 
ments expressed the hope that both Italy and 
Rumania might help them in the coming struggle 
and that the smouldering war spirit of Turkey 
might break out anew into flames. This was just 
after Turkey, as the result of her disastrous defeats 
at the hands of the Balkan Allies, had signed with 
Bulgaria, Serbia, and Montenegro a protocol to 
last until the conclusion of peace negotiations. 
The next sensation was an article by Baron Chlum- 



98 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

etzky, the confidant of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, 
in which he described a meeting between the heir 
to the throne and Kaiser Wilhelm in the latter's 
hunting lodge at Springe. In commenting upon 
the interview he said: *' There are many ways of 
manifesting friendly feeling — Germany chose the 
strongest and places herself on our side with the 
whole strength of her political and military weight." 
In conclusion he said: *'Our demands must not be 
passed upon at a conference; their acceptance 
must not depend upon the consent of a European 
congress; in this also Germany is completely on 
our side." This was the standing formula of 
our diplomacy, as we have seen before and shall 
see later, to look upon a European conference 
that might settle peacefully our self -created dis- 
putes with Serbia as the Devil looks upon holy 
water. 

But in spite of all the fervid enthusiasm on the 
part of the government-controlled press there 
were dissenting voices in Germany and these not 
alone among the Socialists. The Taegliche Rund- 
schau, for instance, a paper which normally sup- 
ported the war party, said: "By going to war 
now we would fall into the position of having to 
say to our soldiers : *We are going to war, not for 
God and the Fatherland, but in order that the 
Serbs shall not get possession of Durazzo!'" Along 
the same line the Rheinisch-Westfaelische Zeitung, 
a paper controlled by the Krupp interests, said: 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 99 

"In such a case we should not be going to war for 
the vital interests of Germany." But in spite of 
these occasional voices of dissent the war spirit 
in Germany as in Austria was ever growing more 
clamorous. 



CHAPTER V 

Count Berchtold, Aehrenthal's Understudy, 
Concocts the Notorious Prochaska Affair 

how the third attempt to start the war failed 

NOTHING ever kindled this spirit in Austria 
as did the single word "fight" as uttered 
by Bethmann-Hollweg. The so-called Na- 
tionalverband, a parliamentary organization repre- 
senting the Pan-German interests in Austria, was 
jubilant over the prospect of the German Empire 
being entangled with us in a life-and-death struggle 
over Albania. Old Francis Joseph had completely 
given himself over to the war party which was eager 
to show the world, and particularly Germany, what 
a perfect military machine Austria had become. 
Everything was being done to whip up to the high- 
est pitch the fighting spirit and artificially to create 
the jingo atmosphere (hurrastimmung) . In the 
cabarets and even in the disreputable night resorts 
the playing and singing of the Hapsburg hymn and 
the Prince Eugene song became universal. In fact, 
when on December 16th the Balkan Peace Con- 
ference opened in London, we were awaiting the 
word from the General Staff to fire the first shot. 

100 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 101 

While public opinion was thus being lashed to 
fever heat, on the 16th of November Count Berch- 
told made the following pregnant announcement: 
"For many days now Vienna has received no 
news of the xA.ustro-Hungarian Consul Prochaska at 
Prisrent. This circumstance has caused many 
anxieties which have been increased by the fact 
that the Foreign Ministry has no information 
regarding the Consul and has been unable to 
establish communication with him." On the same 
day the report was given out that "The Austro- 
Hungarian Consul in Mitrovitza, Herr Ladislaus 
von Tahy, has just arrived in Budapest after a 
successful flight under great difficulties. The 
Serbian military authorities had interned the Con- 
sul in Mitrovitza and had thus sought to deprive 
him of his personal liberty." Two days later it 
was announced that "the Minister of Foreign 
Affairs will in the immediate future demand of 
the Serbian Government an explanation of these 
occurrences." At the same time the Foreign 
Office announced that "Serbia's treatment of our 
consuls has created an estrangement in diplomatic 
circles." These statements were made the very 
day that Doctor Pasic, the Premier of Serbia, 
declared that Serbia must have an outlet to the 
sea. 

On December 4th the Neue Freie Presse gave 
these further details regarding the flight of Consul 
Von Tahy: "As is already known, the Austro- 



102 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

Hungarian Consul in Mitrovitza, Herr Ladislaus 
von Tahy, fled to Uskub on account of the attitude 
of the Serbian military authorities. From Uskub 
Consul Von Tahy made his way to Budapest via 
Nish and Belgrade. On the trip he met a Turkish 
journalist, Galib Bahtiar, editor of the Constan- 
tinople Sabah, who, during his stay in Vienna, 
gave the following interesting news concerning 
the flight of Herr Von Tahy to the representatives 
of the Neue Freie Presse: "In a cold railway car, 
without light, without heat, Consul Von Tahy 
and myself made the trip which lasted approxi- 
mately forty hours. During all this time we were 
never quite sure of our lives. Consul Von Tahy 
spoke pessimistically regarding the Consul Pro- 
chaska affair. He said: Tn a coffee house a 
drunken komitagi [volunteer] was boasting that 
Prochaska was murdered. I heard with my own 
ears that fellow tell how the Serbs invaded the 
Consulate; how, when Consul Prochaska had pro- 
tested, a dispute followed in the course of which 
the Consul was struck with a bayonet. I naturally 
can only say what I heard'." 

The same day it was announced that Consul 
Edl, in service at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 
had been dispatched to Prisrent to investigate the 
Prochaska affair on the spot, and that a report on 
the treatment of Consul Prochaska at the hands 
of the Serbs would be issued the following week. 
All the while distressing rumours were circulated 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 103 

arid published as to what had befallen the Consul. 
Besides the rumour of his murder there came a re- 
port that he had been seriously wounded and that 
the Austrian flag had been desecrated by Serbian 
soldiers, and then came word that the Consul had 
been outraged in a manner too vile to be described. 
Even the old emperor, who had the coolest head in 
the small group of men with whom rested all de- 
cisions as to war or peace, when he heard these 
harrowing stories, exclaimed in anger: "There are 
some things which cannot be tolerated!" Even the 
quietest and most pacific of his subjects, particu- 
larly the people of Vienna and Budapest, began to 
shake their heads and say that the honour of the 
empire could no longer tolerate such barbarities. 
The proofs only were required to make the people 
themselves demand war in reprisal for the inhuman 
treatment of our representative. 

On December 5th, toward evening, the report 
spread that on the following day the renewal of 
the Triple Alliance would be officially announced. 
It was universally felt in well-informed circles 
that we were on the verge of war, not war against 
Serbia alone, but war against Serbia and Russia, 
which would mean the beginning of a world war. 
Never before, not even at the time of the annexa- 
tion crisis in 1908-09, were there such wild and 
contradictory rumours afloat as on that night. 
The "Literary" Bureau announced that "Count 
Berchtold is pursuing a peace policy which can 



104 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

only be shattered by Serbia's obstinacy. Count 
Berchtold will only abandon that policy when all 
diplomatic means have failed and the principle 
of the German military writer, Herr Von Klause- 
vitz, comes into effect; namely, that 'war is the 
continuation of politics by other names'." The 
renewal of the Triple Alliance was officially an- 
nounced on December 7, 1912, in the following 
form: "The treaty of alliance concluded be- 
tween the sovereigns and governments of Austria- 
Hungary, Germany, and Italy has been renewed 
without any alteration." On the same day the 
various political parties began to announce in the 
Reichsrat their position on the war with Serbia 
and Russia which was assumed to be inevitable 
and immediate. 

Also at this time the Ballplatz press issued this 
warning to Serbia: ''Serbia should hasten to clear 
her international conscience ere it be too late, 
or, rather, ere Consul Edl returns from Prisrent. 
Then it might be too late and then very likely the 
accusation which would be laid before the public 
of Europe would be such as to deepen the impres- 
sion of the difficulty of maintaining a policy of 
peace toward such a neighbour as Serbia." Si- 
multaneously the Prochaska incident was again 
brought up. "In regard to the Prochaska affair, 
it is reported in political circles that the report 
of Consul Edl is already substantially in the hands 
of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. But since in 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 105 

so important and delicate a matter it is necessary 
to give a complete picture of what occurred, the 
final personal report of Consul Edl, who examined 
thoroughly on the spot all phases of the episode, 
is awaited. Consul Edl is still making the neces- 
sary investigations in Prisrent. After his return 
to Vienna it will be possible to form a final judg- 
ment on the treatment of the Consul by the Serbian 
authorities. At such time, it is said, our govern- 
ment, if the circumstances demand it, will not fail 
to act in the matter with the utmost energy." 

Our " Literary " Bureau in announcing on Decem- 
ber 6th that the Powers were planning a conference 
of ambassadors on Balkan affairs to sit in London 
during the deliberations of the Balkan Peace Con- 
ference, made this significant remark : *' Difficulties 
may arise in this conference owing to Serbia's 
injury to Austrian prestige and violations of in- 
ternational law in the Consul Prochaska affair." 
About this time an enterprising Budapest paper 
published its recommendations for the punish- 
ment of Serbia in the Prochaska affair. These 
suggestions were so acceptable to the war-party 
press that they were widely copied throughout 
both Austria and Germany. They were briefly 
as follows: "First, all the culprits should be 
severely punished; second. King Peter should be 
obliged to crave forgiveness through diplomatic 
channels for the affront to the monarchy; third, 
the Serbian Crown Prince should be required ^o 



106 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

ask the forgiveness of Consul Prochaska personally; 
fourth, the Serbian Government should agree to 
pay the Consul by way of damages a life annuity 
of 70,000 crowns annually." In connection with 
this final provision it should be mentioned that 
Prochaska was a young and vigorous man. Mean- 
time the German war press was echoing that of 
Austria and Hungary. To cite a single example 
typical of many others the Deutsche Tages Zeitung 
of Berlin declared itself in full accord with the 
Chancellor's willingness to "fight" and added, 
"The case of Consul Prochaska is, according to our 
view, a casus belli; Germany must act before it is 
too late and must stand for the furthest possible 
consequences of the alliance with Austria." 

Our previous possible war aims having been re- 
moved by the unexpected and undesired acceptance 
by Serbia and Russia of our status quo formula 
left our diplomacy in the embarrassing position 
of having everything in readiness for the war ex- 
cept a plausible and defensible cause and purpose. 
They hastily set about to repair this oversight. 
Their efforts were rewarded by the discovery of a 
mostmodern and appealing object. Poor, oppressed 
Albania, which had so long been ground under the 
heel of the Turk, was now about to be seized and 
forced into vassalage to the tyrannous government 
of Serbia. Albania, small and defenceless though 
she was, should be rescued. She should be made 
self-governing — an autonomous principality. The 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 107 

timely discovery was made that an Albanian prince 
some hundreds of years before had been distantly 
related to the Hapsburgs. That made our duty 
even more apparent. To be sure the scant infor- 
mation we were able to glean about our new proteges 
was not very reassuring. They were wild mountain 
tribes numbering eight to nine hundred thousand 
people, mostly Mohammedans, who had spent 
most of their abundant leisure serving as mercen- 
aries in the armies of Abdul Hamid, the Red Sultan. 
They had no literature and not even a practical 
alphabet. Even their first grammar had been com- 
piled by a studious young man in the employ of 
our Foreign Office ! 

Carping critics might have found our sudden 
solicitude for these down-trodden mountaineers 
somewhat inconsistent with our traditional cus- 
toms and practices at the time. Bosnia and Herze- 
govina, which we had rescued from the Sultan 
by means of the Treaty of Berlin in 1878, had been 
so ungrateful as to permit themselves to grow ever 
poorer, more illiterate and discontented. Accord- 
ing to the official statistics of 1910 there were 
among the inhabitants of Bosnia, seven to twenty 
years of age, 87| per cent, of illiterates, which il- 
lustrates the nature of the cultural efficiency of 
the Black-Yellow Party which was alleged as the 
justification for the annexation of these provinces. 
Things had come finally to the point where absolu- 
tism was threatened to curb their waywardness. 



108 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

Croatia and Slavonia were under dictatorships. 
In Hungary two thirds of the population were pro- 
testing at being turned over to the tender mercies 
of the remaining third — the ruUng Magyar land 
junkers. In Galicia Poles and Ruthenes were at 
loggerheads. In Slovenia a handful of German 
land junkers were dominating the country. Every- 
where, in fact, national self-assertion and develop- 
ment were being suppressed with an iron hand. 
But our statesmen had robust consciences and 
found little difficulty in adjusting themselves to 
the equivocal situation. Whatever its sentimental 
shortcomings it was evident that an autonomous 
Albania would furnish an inexhaustible supply of 
provocations for war as well as a constant men- 
ace to our hated little neighbour, Serbia. At all 
events, we certainly could not tolerate the dismem- 
berment of European Turkey without satisfying 
the dynastic lust for conquest of our Hapsburg 
rulers. 

And Germany, too, made the discovery that her 
imperial interests would be jeopardized by per- 
mitting Serbia to hold a port on the Adriatic. So 
the Kaiser and Bethmann-HoUweg and their 
followers also became solicitous for the autonomy 
of Albania. Consequently the "war maniacs" or 
*' Black- Yellow jugglers of Vienna," as they were 
called by the people at large, were not only backed 
up but egged on by their confederates in Berlin. 

As has been said, no sooner had the renewal 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 109 

of the Triple Alliance been announced than the 
various political parties in the Reichsrat began to 
proclaim their attitude in the war against Serbia 
and Russia which they assumed was about to be- 
gin. Herr Liebermann, the spokesman of the 
Polish Social Democratic Party, declared: "The 
Polish Social Democrats are not willing to back 
up the imperialism of Serbia; they will fulfil their 
duty and stand faithfully at Austria's side if she 
is attacked by Russia." Whereupon Herr Karl 
Renner, a member of the German Social Demo- 
cratic Party of Austria (later the first Chancellor 
of the Austrian Republic) sprang to his feet and 
declared that "the German Social Democrats, too, 
are In accord with the declaration of comrade 
Liebermann and will act as one man in using 
all their powers against 'Russian czarism'." This 
became the standard formula for their approval 
of the World War in 1914. These declarations 
were surprising to the superficial observer since 
the Social Democrats — comprising in their member- 
ship Germans, Poles, Ruthenes, Czechs, Slovenes, 
and Croats — had in a plenary sitting put them- 
selves on record as opposed to a European war.* 

I was one of the first to question the genuineness of the peace professions 
of these so-called socialists, and during the first year of the war I prepared a 
pamphlet entitled : " The Betrayal of Socialism " to expose these false apostles 
of the socialist doctrine. In this paper I pointed out that there was collu- 
sion between the war-mad Pan-Germanists of Germany and Austria and 
the peace-mad socialist extremists of Russia. My prophecies have been 
all too well fulfilled by the first and second Russian Revolutions of 1917, and 
their lamentable consequences. 



no THE INSIDE STORY OF 

At the same time that the Socialist deputies 
in the Reichsrat were declaring themselves for the 
war, word reached Vienna that the foremost rep- 
resentatives of the Ukrainian parties of Galicia 
had held a meeting in Lvow (capital of Galicia) 
where they had proclaimed the following: *'It is 
vital to the Ukrainian nation that in a serious con- 
flict between Austria and Russia the whole Ukrain- 
ian nation should stand united and firmly for 
Austria." After all this the resolution which 
follows of the always-servile Austrian Poles oc- 
casioned little surprise. *'In the present serious 
political situation, the Polish Club proclaims that 
all Polish people inhabiting Austria are holding 
themselves ready and united, as the occasion may 
demand it, to fulfil their duty with all their powers 
toward Austria and her magnanimous and just 
monarch, who shows understanding of our feelings 
and recognition of our heavy fate and our national 
rights, and who places his confidence in us. In 
this unity with the state and its monarch, as also 
through reliance upon our own powers and the 
consciousness of our national aspirations, we see 
the guarantee of a better future." The foregoing 
expressions of blind loyalty show how well and 
thoroughly had the Department of the Interior 
performed its task in bringing the political parties 
into line for the war. The only peoples of the Dual 
Monarchy who remained in irreconcilable opposi- 
tion to the war were the Czecho-Slovaks, the 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 111 

Slovenes, the Serbs, and the great majority of the 
Croats. 

When Count Forgach, Otto Franz, Tanzos, and 
the others were removed from their posts in Bel- 
grade for their failure to bring on the war in 1908- 
1909, their most active collaborator in Vienna, save 
Count Aehrenthal himself, General Conrad von 
Hoetzendorf, was also deposed from his position 
as Chief of the General Staff. He was the first 
of the faithful to be reinstated. On the tenth 
of December, 1912, the Emperor reappointed him 
Chief of Staff. At the same time a new joint 
Minister of War was appointed. Both appointees 
were favourites of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand. 
Their appointment indicated that the Archduke 
and the war party had gained complete sway over 
the old emperor. Hoetzendorf was a man after 
Francis Ferdinand's own heart. He looked upon 
war as the panacea for all the many ills of the 
empire. While he was particularly set upon war 
against Serbia and Russia he had in 1911 secretly 
urged war upon our ally, Italy, while her strength 
was being drained by the Tripoli campaign. He 
apparently advocated this war on the ground that 
any war, even one against an unoffending ally, 
is better than no war at all. 

This sudden change in the highest military 
functionaries on the verge of war still further 
alarmed the people. And they were by no means 
reassured when the very papers, which had previ- 



112 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

ously assured them that the retired Minister and 
Chief of Staff were so nearly omnipotent that to 
question their abiUty was high treason, now turned 
upon them and represented them as unrehable and 
incapable. On the other hand, the Ballplatz press 
now used every device known to the gentle art of 
newspaper reputation making, to elevate General 
Hoetzendorf to the position of a national hero. 
It was this heroic figure who in the summer of 1918 
was forced to resign because of Austria's military 
failures. On the day after these changes in the 
high command a conference of ministers was held 
under the presidency of the Emperor at the Schoen- 
brunn Palace in Vienna. 

Meanwhile, we were spending hundreds of mil- 
lions on war preparations. When the home money 
market was exhausted we tried to raise money 
abroad. It is significant that we were unable to 
secure loans either in Paris or London. Finally we 
turned to American capitalists, and after long ne- 
gotiations obtained the paltry sum of $25,000,000 at 
the exorbitant rate of 6j per cent. This reduced 
us to the level of China in point of international 
credit. Internally our financial and industrial 
affairs went from bad to worse. Our banks 
declined to loan money for construction and in- 
dustrial development. The people, too, were 
withdrawing their savings from the banks. The 
Government tried to revive the economic life by 
publishing all kinds of reassuring news. No one. 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 113 

apparently, paid any attention to these assurances. 
Tens of thousands of reservists and young men 
about to reach mlHtary age hastily left the coun- 
try. Fariiilies sold their homes, their land, their 
personal' effects, anything to raise a little money 
so they could escape before the storm cloud of war 
burst upon them. In panic they fled to America, 
CanS^da, South America, Brazil, the Argentine, the 
Faltland Islands, and even as far as New Zealand 
and South Africa. Finally, the Hungarian Govern- 
ment, alarmed by the exodus, announced that no 
further passports would be issued to men of mili- 
tary age or to those who would come to military age 
during the next year. This did not stop the exodus 
but merely kept the police busy arresting, dragging 
back, and locking up the would-be evaders of mili- 
tary service. 

Along the Serbian frontier the plans for invasion 
were prepared in the minutest detail. An inces- 
sant stream of ammunition was poured into Bosnia 
and Herzegovina toward the Serbian and Mon- 
tenegrin frontiers. The Joint Minister of Finance, 
who was also Governor-General of Bosnia and Her- 
zegovina, asked the Sabor (Diet) of these provinces 
to vote in all haste the necessary credits for new 
railways and roads of which the greater number 
were to be constructed between the rivers Sava 
and Drina, where, as the events of the World 
War showed, the offensive against Serbia started. 
These credits were asked at the very time when 



114 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

the Prochaska affair was started. General 
Potiorek, Governor of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 
the very man who in 1914-1915 led our armies 
of invasion into Serbia, in summoning the heads 
of the various parties before him said: "We are 
on the eve of the war and it is urgent to vote 
in the course of the next few days the credits for 
these railways and the annual budget." In Gali- 
cia enormous quantities of war materials of all 
kinds, including guns, ammunition, bridges, and 
pontoons, were stored in Cracow, Przemysl, and in 
Lvow, the capital. These Galician preparations 
obviously were not directed against Serbia but 
against Russia. We even made final preparations 
against attack from the side of Italy. This surely 
was farsighted on the part of our military authori- 
ties. Ever since the annexation crisis of 1908 
these preparations had been going forward uninter- 
ruptedly, and every branch of our military es- 
tablishment had been kept on a war footing; 
312,000,000 kronen was appropriated by the 
Reichsrat for new super-dreadnaughts for the navy. 
Since this money could not be had quickly enough, 
Baron Rothschild, head of the famous Jewish bank- 
ing house in Vienna, the money power behind the 
throne, after repeated conferences with the Arch- 
duke Francis Ferdinand, advanced the money for 
these ships. As a result they were known as the 
"Rothschild dreadnaughts." 
The joint War Minister, on top of all this, de- 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 115 

manded and received a hundred million kronen 
additional for general military purposes, for that 
year and for each succeeding year so long as in his 
opinion it might be needed. Even these vast 
expenditures, relatively to our available resources, 
were contemptuously referred to by Francis 
Ferdinand as "miserable lumps." The obligations 
for personal military service were increased pro- 
portionately with the taxes. Reservists who had 
previously been called upon for not more than eight 
weeks' military service in a year were now called 
to the colours for from two to three years' service. 
The crowning blow to the rapidly waning liberties 
of the unhappy subjects of Francis Joseph came 
through the enactment of the " Kriegsleistungs- 
Gesetz," a law which from the beginning of mobil- 
ization gave the military authorities complete 
power over not only the property but the person 
of every man. By this law were swept aside the 
rights of labour, the rights of travel, the rights of 
assembly — in fact, all personal liberty of any kind. 
It should be realized that this law was made in 
time of peace and not under the pressure of war. 
This law, which carried us to the furthest possible 
extreme of military despotism, was supported in 
the Reichsrat by all parties, including the Clerical 
Party, the Christian Socialists, and the German 
Liberals. 

Our progress in a military way was accompanied 
by alarming retrogression in every other direction. 



116 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

We had no money for schools and hospitals. The 
social insurance laws could be only partially en- 
forced because of lack of funds. State officials 
and employees were wretchedly paid. Our scien- 
tists were forced to go to other countries in order to 
find suitable conditions for their work. Meanwhile, 
poverty and misery were rapidly increasing through- 
out the empire, particularly in the cities. The an- 
nual report of the Vienna Waermestuhen Verein, 
a society to provide warming-rooms for the poor, 
gives some idea of the conditions among the poor of 
the capital. Between November, 1911, and March, 
1912, a total of 1,000,218 persons came to these 
rooms, among whom were 209,500 women and 
597,000 children. In Vienna alone 98,857 people 
were without shelter. An average of 5,000 children 
daily came to these shelters and stood in line for 
hours to receive the free soup and bread. Hun- 
dreds of children spent the nights in these rooms, 
huddled or sitting on benches in corners, without 
beds, bedding, nightclothes, or sleeping accommoda- 
tions of any kind. For the meals of the 5,000 
children and an almost equal number of adults 
the City Council paid 6,000 crowns daily, or about 
half a cent per person. 

One may imagine how the more intelligent of 
these poor people felt when they heard of our 
enormous expenditures on military preparations — 
preparations against little Serbia so far as was 
officially admitted — Serbia, one of whose crimes 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 117 

was lier desire to export food into our empire and 
sell it to our hungry people. 

In these dreary December days, while the poor 
shivered and starved, political events occurred 
with such rapidity that it was difficult to keep track 
of them. Almost every utterance made or in- 
spired by the Government contained references 
to the outrages committed by the Serbs on Consul 
Prochaska. Finally, however, a lieutenant field 
marshal, in no way connected with the Foreign 
Office, issued this statement: "According to my in- 
formation Prochaska is all right, and the rumours 
about his being greatly misused are exaggerated; 
nevertheless the treatment accorded him by the 
Serbs did constitute an infraction of international 
law." Thus came to an abrupt termination the 
supposed sufferings of Consul Prochaska — sufferings 
which had aroused the indignation and sympathy 
of almost everyone from the old emperor down 
to his humblest subjects. A few days later it was 
given out that Consul Edl had returned from his 
investigation of the Prochaska affair and that an 
official report on the matter would soon appear. 
Not long after this the "Imperial and Royal Vienna 
Telegraph Correspondence Bureau" issued the 
long and anxiously awaited report. It read: "The 
investigation which was conducted by a delegate 
sent by the Imperial and Royal Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs concerning the affair of Consul Prochaska 
in Prisrent, which has been somewhat delayed 



lis THE INSIDE STORY OF 

owing to the great distances and the situation 
brought about by the war [the Balkan War] has 
now been completed. On the basis of this report 
it can be said to our satisfaction that the rumours 
wkich hare been in circulation^ according to which 
Consul Prochaska had been held a prisoner at his 
post and had been maltreated by the Serbian 
authorities, are totally unfounded. The accusa- 
tion made in turn by the Serbian Government 
against the above-named consular fimctionary. 
and the reasons given for requesting his transfer — 
namely, that Serbian troops had been fired upon 
on entering Prisrent from the building of the 
Austro- Hungarian Consulate, have also been 
found to be totally false. The Serbian mihtaiy* 
authorities were found, however, to have com- 
mitted an offence against international law in their 
conduct toward Consul Prochaska and the person- 
nel of the Consulate. This infringement will be 
made known to the Royal Serbian Government with 
a request for adequate satisfaction. There is. how- 
ever, no ground for the behef that the Royal Serbian 
Government, which has shown itself ven.' responsive 
to the mission of the delegate of the ^linistry 
of Foreign Affairs, wiU refuse such satisfaction.*'* 

*1t Is *. stgafieant £»ct that at tliis criticai tine Ansttan monitnfs and 
Cia i lii i i^ OB tke Dmambe vere flashing ttar searebJigiits an fidgraiie at 
■j^iaBdwexcpas^evdldaaievTankafpasseDgerboats. Marfirnp^gim 
taautk e by ^'ffi*t^^ jy^Miprg along the sinre s u Lj ec ie J izaTeOecs to seriois 
neaananaace. Sots fired from the Anstfiaa dboie noperiOed Serfaiaa 
pg«gM*g wmki i g m. the fields. AH o£ these mancennrres vore calcolated to 
pKodate aoBK fcutia "■addeat" vUch coaid be osed as a pretext for war. 



AUSTRO-OER^L\^■ INTRIGUE 119 

Thus was our Ministry of Foreign Affairs finally 
obliged to repudiate the alleged pei^ecution of 
Consul Prochaska which had for so long been 
utilized to arouse the war spirit of our long-suffer- 
ing people. Knowing Consul Prochaska as I did 
and realizing that he had in him none of the stuff 
of which martyrs and heroes are made, I had from 
the first been ver^• much amused at the highly 
imaginan.' and dramatic accounts of his hardships 
and heroism. \Mien I learned what had actually 
hapi>ened I was still more amused. "While this 
martyred hero was, in the imagination of Francis 
Joseph and his credulous subjects, lying wounded 
and shockingly disfigured at his lonely jxjst in the 
Black Mountains of the tottering Turkish Empire, 
he was, in fact, sitting quietly in his official resi- 
dence in the best of health and spirits, carefully 
guarded by stately harasses (^guards; in their 
gorgeous Montenegrin uniforms, leisurely sipping 
his coffee a la Turque, prepared by his Balkan 
ser\'ants, while his Httle c-ompanion of the Viennese 
demi-monde, with her bright blue eyes and flaxen 
curls, anticipated the shghtest wish of her lord and 
master. All of which goes to show how hard it is 
to avoid being a hero if the Powers That Be so 
will it. 

Why the Prochaska affair had been abandoned 
as a possible casus belli was soon apparent, A 
few days later, on the twenty -first of December, 
the Conference of Ambassadors — ^that nightmare 



120 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

of the Ballplatz, which had been convened in 
London, at the instance of Sir Edward Grey, the 
British Foreign Secretary, in order to prevent the 
Balkan War from becoming a world war — ^had 
recommended that Serbia accept Austria's harsh 
demands, renounce her claim to the strip of ter- 
ritory on the Adriatic Sea, and again bow to our 
policy of commercial tyranny over her. Rather 
than precipitate a general war Serbia and her 
natural protector and adviser, Russia, had ac- 
cepted this unjust settlement. Once more, as in 
the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina, iiustria and 
her big ally, greatly to their disgust and disappoint- 
ment, had won their alleged object without plung- 
ing the world into war. This time, as before, their 
plans had been frustrated by the unexpected and 
undesired acceptance by Serbia and Russia of their 
unjust demands. In confirmation of our assertions 
about the London Conference of Ambassadors we 
are now able to quote no less an authority than 
Prince Lichnowsky, the German Ambassador who 
took part in that conference. On page 11 of his 
famous confessions, he says : 

"As a matter of fact, we had again successfully 
emerged from one of those trials of strength which 
characterize our policy. Russia had been obliged 
to give way to us on all points, as she was never in a 
position to procure success for the Serbian aims. 
Albania was established as a vassal state of Austria 
and Serbia was pressed back from the sea. Hence 



AUSTRO-GERIVIAN INTRIGUE 121 

this conference resulted in a fresh humihation for 
Russian self-esteem. As in 1878 and in 1908, we 
had opposed the Russian plans although no 
German interests were involved; but we continued to 
pursue in London the dangerous path upon which 
we had once entered in the Bosnian question, nor did 
we leave it in time when it led to the precipice." 

The Pan-Germans and Pan-Magyars can stom- 
ach anything that succeeds, but the Prochaska 
affair had not succeeded and was therefore inex- 
cusable. Moreover, it had proved an immensely 
expensive joke. Through the falling of stocks 
alone investors had lost two billion kronen. Aside 
from the hundreds of millions which had been un- 
necessarily spent on armaments, the dynasty and 
the diplomacy of Austria had been for a second time 
exposed to the contemptuous derision of Europe. 
Consequently Count Berchtold and his associates 
fell under a cloud just as had Aehrenthal and his 
fellow conspirators four years before. Berchtold 
was for a time unable to muzzle even the most 
venal and subservient newspapers and politicians. 
The old emperor was again in a rage at being 
duped, and the courtiers who had neglected him to 
pay homage to the rising power of Francis Ferdi- 
nand scuttled back to sit at the feet of their old 
master and criticized as far as they dared the con- 
duct of the heir to the throne. 

Even the leading Jewish paper, the great Neue 
Freie Presse of Vienna, sullenly commented: "The 



122 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

Prochaska affair began as a swollen river and has 
now shrunk to a little brook that one may ford dry 
shod. The question remains why the monarchy, 
through a word of explanation spoken in time, 
did not quiet the situation." Another Viennese 
paper, the Zeit^ wrote: "There are things in the 
Prochaska affair for which not Serbia, but our 
own government, is responsible and should give 
us satisfaction." 

A member of the Hungarian House of Lords 
criticized Count Berchtold for leaving the public 
so long in the dark in the Prochaska matter. As a 
result of these proddings an inspired statement ap- 
peared a few days later which read as follows: "In 
all probability the Prochaska aft'air will come to a 
peaceful and final solution in a very short time. 
The Austro-Hungarian Minister in Belgrade, Herr 
Stephan von Ugron, has communicated to Premier 
Pasic the desire of Austria-Hungary that after the 
return of Consuls Prochaska and Von Tahy to 
Prisrent and Mitrovitza, the Austro-Hungarian 
flag be given military honours by a Serbian detach- 
ment commanded by an officer. Serbia has agreed 
to comply with this demand as soon as Herr Pro- 
chaska and Herr Von Tahy return to their posts. 
Also the official Serbian Press Bureau published 
yesterday an official communique in which the 
regret of the Serbian Government was expressed 
over the affronts committed by the Serbian military 
authorities against the consuls." 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 123 

But while Consul Prochaska was no longer a 
boon to our diplomacy but rather a "millstone 
around our necks," he appeared still capable of 
being served up once more to whet the jaded ap- 
petites of the fire-eating Pan-Germans in Germany. 
Totally disregarding the official denial of our 
Foreign Office, German newspapers, including not 
only Pan-German organs like the Vossische Zeitung, 
but also the Frankfurter Zeitiing, repeated as true 
the familiar charges now officially branded as 
falsehoods. The latter paper, for good measure, 
added some further lurid details to the effect that 
Serbian soldiers had forced their way into the Con- 
sulate, where they had torn down and besmirched 
the Austrian flag, and finally had murdered with- 
out cause some Albanian families who had taken 
refuge in the Consulate. Count Berchtold issued an 
official denial of these stories which finally ended 
Consul Prochaska's vicarious career as an inter- 
national figure and a possible cause of world war. 

Both Prochaska and the runaway. Consul Von 
Tahy, were brought back and reinstated in their 
respective offices. Serbian military detachments 
both in Prisrent and Mitrovitza presented arms 
in honour of the Austro-Hungarian flag, and this 
world-stirring diplomatic incident and "outrage 
against international law" was closed except for 
those immediately concerned. 

Just as the Fried jung charges had kept recurring 
to plague Aehrenthal long after their usefulness 



124 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

had ceased, so now the Prochaska charges refused 
to be buried by Berchtold's -olemn official denials. 
Professor Masaryk, the distinguished scientist — at 
this writing the President of Czecho-SIovakia 
who, as will be recalled, had been characterized 
by one of the judges in the first high-treason trial 
at Zagreb as a "raggamuffin, a nobody, and a refuse 
of human society" — now further displayed his rag- 
gamuffinly traits by insisting upon washing the 
dirty linen of the Prochaska matter in public. 
"Consul Prochaska," said Professor Masaryk, 
"complained that the attitude of the Serbian 
soldiers toward the Catholic priest in Prisrent 
was indecent, that they forced their way into the 
Catholic church and into the house of the Sisters 
of Mercy to look there for concealed weapons, 
and that they threatened him with death. In this 
complaint Consul Prochaska made it clear that 
the Catholics of Albania were under the protector- 
ate of Austria. The Consul demanded that the 
officer who commanded the platoon of soldiers who 
committed these acts, apologize. To offset this 
complaint we have the deposition of the Catholic 
priest himself, stating that nothing had happened 
to him, that no one had forced his way into the 
church, and that the officers had merely come to 
the church and the premises of the church to see 
whether they contained any weapons." "A sec- 
ond complaint of the Consul states that Serbian 
soldiers had' 4:dke» from the mail carrier^ the cor- 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 125 

respondence of the Consulate as well as a revolver 
which he carried on his person. This was con- 
sidered by Vienna as a particularly aggravated 
offence."* 

"The third complaint stated that Serbian sol- 
diers had led away a pony that was grazing in a 
pasture and which was said by some peasants to 
belong to the Consul." These three complaints 
were, according to Professor Masaryk, "the main 
causes of the Prochaska affair, and led to the offi- 
cial complaints lodged by our government in 
Belgrade." 

There was a final charge that the Serbs had made 
hostile demonstrations against the Consul when 
he left Prisrent. After Serbian diplomatic agents 
had investigated this charge it was pointed out as 
tactfully as possible that such hostile demonstra- 
tions as may have occurred were undoubtedly 
directed not at the Consul, but at the lady of doubt- 
ful reputation who accompanied him. 

For my part I must admit that the treatment 
accorded his lady companion must have been gall- 
ing and humiliating to the hero, Prochaska ! Some 
Serbs later described to me the circumstances of 
this international event. It appears that as the 
consular cortege left Prisrent, the Consul was 
seated in one carriage and his dame de compagnie 



*TJndoubtedly the Serbian authorities had prevented the Consul from 
sending telegrams in cipher. This prohibition is common in war time and 
is not regarded as a violation of international law. 



126 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

in another. The ratthng of some tin cans, which 
some street boys with no sense of international 
etiquette, had attached to her carriage, so alarmed 
the poor lady of the demi-monde that she sprang 
from her carriage and clambered breathless and 
protesting into that of the accredited representative 
of the Imperial and Royal Government. 

When Prochaska returned to Vienna His Majesty 
soothed his outraged feelings by promoting him 
to be a Consul General and sending him in that 
capacity to the distant but beautiful city of Rio de 
Janeiro, where, like the prince in the fairy story, 
he lived happily until the overthrow of the mon- 
archy which he had served so picturesquely. 

Probably Prochaska did not know himself who 
had made him famous until the ofHcial organ of the 
Ballplatz published the news the following May 
that "Herr Koloman Kania de Kanya, Hofrat 
and Consul General, head of the Literary Section 
of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has been given 
by Emperor Francis Joseph the title and character 
of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotenti- 
ary," adding: "This nomination is in recognition 
of the services rendered by this official in the recent 
past. He will retain his post as head of the Liter- 
ary Section of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs." 
So this was the man through whose ingenuity the 
peaceful entry of a church to look for concealed 
weapons, the search of a Consular mail pouch, and 
the seizure of a pony, had developed into an 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 127 

international imbroglio which threatened the peace 
of the world. No one can deny that he was indeed 
an "Envoy Extraordinary" long before his royal 
master gave him the title. 

There were some people in Austria who thought 
that the international opera-bouffe performances 
of this distinguished individual did not merit 
reward. Among these there arose a storm of 
indignation. Two days after the announcement 
of the new honours for the head of the Literary 
Section, the Government was faced by some very 
embarrassing interpellations in the Austrian Dele- 
gations. Among other things a demand was made 
for a judicial inquiry into the conduct of the official 
whom His Majesty had just honoured, x^t this 
point Premier Count Stuergkh made an appeal 
to the deputies that for the honour of Austria and 
the Hapsburg Dynasty they drop the matter and 
refrain from dragging the foreign policy of the 
monarchy through the mire of a judicial investiga- 
tion. This appeal was strangely reminiscent of a 
similar appeal which, four years before, had been 
made by the representative of Francis Ferdinand 
and Aehrenthal to the litigants in the Fried jung 
trial. This appeal, like that one, was successful 
except that one deputy, Doctor Kramarz, re- 
fused to be silenced until he had freed his mind. 
He said: "An abominable crime was committed 
against the welfare of Austria through the Pro- 
chaska affair, when it was undertaken artificially 



128 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

to arouse war fever in the populace." "I contend," 
he said, "and if necessary I can prove it, that the 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs knew all along that 
nothing had happened to Prochaska. In the Liter- 
ary Bureau originated all the sufferings which so 
wrought upon us. There originated the war fever; 
there our terrible economic losses had their origin; 
thence came the ruin of our economic life, those 
who paid for the crisis with their financial existence 
have them to thank. What did we attain by the 
Prochaska affair? Nothing. At least, nothing 
except to become the laughing stock of Europe 
and to awaken grave doubts as to the conduct 
of our foreign policy among all honest men at 
home." 

Had it not been for these revelations the world 
would never have had authentic knowledge of the 
real inwardness of the Prochaska affair. In the 
official Red Book published by our government in 
April, 1914, and covering this memorable period 
of our history, the affair is not even mentioned. 
This modest reticence was apparently followed as 
a precedent in our later Red Book which sought 
to place upon Serbia and Russia the guilt of causing 
the World War. In this book one may search in 
vain for the numerous dispatches which passed 
between Berlin and Vienna in the critical days pre- 
ceding the outbreak of the great war. 

As for Prochaska's impresario, the Envoy Ex- 
traordinary, as a sop to popular indignation, and 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 129 

with one of its consummate strokes of unconscious 
humour, our Foreign Office sent him as Minister 
to Mexico where later he perhaps found famihar 
and congenial occupation in helping Foreign Secre- 
tary Kuhlmann of Germany partition the United 
States — on paper. 



CHAPTER VI 

Berchtold's Albanian Comedy 

PRINCE HOHENLOHE's MISSION TO THE CZAR 

A FTER the exposure of the Consul Prochaska 
/jk fraud and Europe's narrow escape from 
A. m. war in December, 1912, through the efforts 
of the London Conference of Ambassadors and the 
acceptance by Serbia and Russia of the unjust 
demands of Austria and Germany, there came a 
great reaction among the peoples of Austria- 
Hungary. The war spirit rapidly subsided and 
the artificially created patriotic enthusiasm evapo- 
rated overnight. Noisy patriots no longer marched 
to the Deutschmeister Monument to bellow the 
Prince Eugene song. In the cabarets and all- 
night resorts the guests were no longer stirred by 
the singing of the national hymn. The lust for 
war and conquest was gone. After its jingo de- 
bauch the whole nation seemed to be suffering from 
a " morning-after " headache and depression. The 
people felt bitter and resentful toward the Govern- 
ment for having "led them by the nose." The 
Balkan experts with their "inside sources of infor- 
mation" and the staff trumpeters of the Ballplatz 

130 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 131 

press became mute. The people saw with anger 
that every foot of territory which had been snatched 
from the Serbs and given to Albania was, so to 
speak, covered with Austrian gold — ^Albania whose 
longevity as a nation everyone questioned. This 
depression was nowhere greater than in the ranks 
of the "Black-Yellow Party" itself. All of them 
from the iVrchduke Francis Ferdinand down to the 
least of the Ballplatz "press reptiles" (the con- 
temptuous term by which the nobles in the Foreign 
Service always refer to the Jewish reporters) were 
plunged in gloom. But the War Party, although 
disgusted, was by no means discouraged. It began 
at once to formulate new plans to accomplish its 
purpose. 

The new programme appeared in the January, 
1913, number of Baron Chlumetzky's magazine, the 
Oesterr. Rundschau, under the title "Evil Forebod- 
ings," and read: "We have not spent uncounted 
millions and brought upon our empire many a 
heavy crisis to create an Albania that should fall 
chiefly under the influence of other powers. Even 
less can we permit this Albania to have a miscarriage 
which would soon demand of us new and costly 
cures. Austria-Hungary has assumed, in opposition 
to Serbia, the responsibility of the fatherhood of the 
new Albania. We have already paid for the de- 
livery of Albania high birth tolls. We must not 
now be satisfied with half-way measures. We 
must, on the contrary, summon the will power to 



132 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

bring about in the Balkans a new order of things 
in the way best suited to our interests — the creation 
of the form of Albanian autonomy most favourable 
to our requirements, with territorial boundaries 
such as will guarantee to the new state the pos- 
sibility of untrammelled growth — ^the securing 
from Serbia of guarantees, to be given at once be- 
fore the final settlement of the Balkan question, 
of trade rights in Macedonia and Albania and fi- 
nally a free passage to Salonica. These are in gen- 
eral the problems which must be solved before we 
can look into the future with anything like con- 
fidence. To back down on any one of these points 
would be to invite grave misfortune for the mon- 
archy. The world would interpret it as a symptom 
of weakness — as a confession that we had indeed 
lost that power to act and that vitality which is 
essential to a great power, as indeed to any state 
if it shall not gradually fall into decay." In an ar- 
ticle supplementing this, entitled: "Austria- 
Hungary's Interest in a Strong Albania," which 
appeared in the next number of the same publica- 
tion, this statement was made: "The military 
importance of a Greater Serbia in relation to the 
radius of action of the monarchy consists in this, 
that such a Serbia would be able to put into the 
field half a million men and would thus neutralize 
in each international complication an equally 
large Austro-Hungarian force, and would thus 
withdraw it from the main theatre of war. [That 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 133 

is, from the Russian theatre of war.] This would 
also affect the military value of the monarchy in 
the German-Austrian Alliance. Only a strong 
Albania can serve as a counterweight to this. 
But for the Austro-Hungarian and the German 
policy this must serve as the last bulwark against 
the advance of Pan-Slavism to the Adriatic. 
Finally, Albania is the last bridge over which 
Middle Europe can unopposed extend its hegemony 
into the Western Balkans." We shall see that all 
the subsequent efforts of the Austro-Hungarian 
and German governments up to August 9, 1913, 
when Italy wet-blanketed their plans by refusing 
to join them in an attack upon Serbia and in a 
world war, were strictly in accord with the aims set 
forth in these quasi-official statements. 

It should be noted that these statements are 
based on purely military and strategic consider- 
ations. The former military assumption that 
Turkey could be counted upon at least to iiold in 
check the Balkan States while Austria and Ger- 
many attacked Russia had been upset by the al- 
liance between Serbia and Bulgaria and destroyed 
by the victory of the Balkan Alliance over Turkey. 
The Alliance could put a million soldiers in the 
field to checkmate Austria-Hungary should the 
long-cherished scheme for the conquest and parti- 
tion of Russia be attempted. The Balkan Alli- 
ance or, as it was well termed, the Tenth World 
Power, was in its ethnic composition predominately 



134 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

Slav. Serbs and Bulgars outnumbered the Greeks 
three to one, while all three peoples were adherents 
of the Greek Orthodox Church, and, as such, natur- 
ally looked to Russia as the leading Greek Orthodox 
Slav power. As a result of the shabby treatment 
we had always given Serbia, as well as our consis- 
tent oppression of our own southern Slavs, we well 
knew that we could expect nothing of this new 
world power. We therefore decided that it must 
be crushed. To crush the Balkan Alliance we 
believed it was only necessary to crush Serbia and 
give her allies, Bulgaria and Greece, a share in the 
spoils. While, on the one hand, we continued 
our elaborate preparations to crush Serbia by 
force, we, on the other hand, started, through the 
underground channels of secret diplomacy, to 
detach Bulgaria from the alliance with her. Count 
Adam Tarnowski, our Minister in Sofia, the same 
man who in the World War actually brought 
Bulgaria on to the side of the Central Empires, 
was entrusted with this diplomatic task. His 
efforts were greatly facilitated by the pro-Austrian 
sympathies of King Ferdinand. The secret ambi- 
tion of King Ferdinand for a Bulgarian domination 
of the Balkan Peninsula, to make Bulgaria the 
Prussia of the Balkan States, coupled with the de- 
termination of Serbia, now that she had been 
denied her "little window on the Adriatic," to hold 
her economic outlet on the ^Egean through Mace- 
donia, played admirably into the hands of our 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 135 

diplomacy. Serbia held that the harbour on the 
Adriatic which she had won with blood and treasure 
could never have been wrested from her at the 
behest of Austria had Bulgaria been true to the 
Alliance and honestly supported Serbia's claims. 
Since Bulgaria had not helped her to keep her 
hold on the Adriatic she declined to turn over to 
Bulgaria, in accordance with the terms of the Al- 
liance, the portions of Macedonia which Serbia's 
armies had conquered and thus lose her outlet on 
the JEgesLTi as well as the Adriatic and place her- 
self again in the position of economic dependence 
which she had fought a victorious war to escape. 
In order to crush Serbia and rescue Turkey, and 
to forestall the interference of Russia, we decided 
to try to cajole Russia into demobilizing on our 
northern front. It will be recalled that at the out- 
break of the First Balkan War we had begun to 
mobilize our armies. We had gradually concen- 
trated 400,000 men on the Serbian frontier who 
were ready at a moment's notice to invade Serbia. 
We had also mobilized against Russia on our 
northern frontier. Russia's only answer to this 
unusual provocation had been to retain one class 
of the year 1910 with the colours instead of sending 
the men to their homes. But even these men she 
held in the interior and not near our border. We 
sought, by playing upon the well-known pacific 
ideals of the Czar and by cultivating in Russia a 
false sense of security, to have these reservists sent 



136 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

home. With Russia fully demobilized our Gen- 
eral Staff had calculated that we could crush Serbia 
before Russia could come to her assistance. 

Accordingly the three objectives of our diplo- 
macy at this time were: to rekindle the war spirit 
in Turkey, to detach Bulgaria from her allies and 
thus break up the Balkan Alliance, and, by playing 
upon the Czar's pacific ideals, to secure the de- 
mobilization of Russia's army and thus obtain a 
clear field for the crushing of Serbia. Adrianople, 
the second Holy City of the Ottomans, had been 
conquered by the Balkan Allies. We told the 
Turks that upon their recapture of the "fortress 
of Adrianople hung the peace of the world." And 
secretly we informed the leaders of the Young 
Turk Party that if they, through a coup d'etat^ 
would overthrow the existing government and 
set up one of their own we would lend military aid. 

To work upon the peace sentiments of the Czar, 
Count Berchtold sent Prince Gottfried Hohenlohe, 
a son-in-law of the Archduke Frederick, to Petro- 
grad with a personal letter from the old emperor 
proposing to his fellow monarch that he demobil- 
ize on Austria's northern frontier provided Austria 
should do the same. All mention of Austria's 
heavily mobilized southern frontier was studiously 
avoided. The alleged peace mission of Prince 
Hohenlohe was widely heralded in the Ballplatz 
press. Papers like the Ncue Freie Presse waxed 
eloquent on the well-known peace sentiments of 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 137 

Czar Nicholas and reminded him of his obligation 
to be faithful to the ideals of the great movement 
for international peace and disarmament which he 
had set on foot through the first Hague Peace 
Conference fifteen years before. They further 
pointed out to the Czar that the causes which had 
four times during the reign of Francis Joseph 
brought Russia and Austria to the verge of war 
had now been removed by the complete victory 
of the Balkan States over Turkey. They said 
that no matter who won in the war in the Balkans, 
which threatened to break out anew, henceforth 
the Balkans would belong to the Balkanians. 

Thus having stimulated the war spirit in Turkey 
and the peace spirit in Russia we turned our at- 
tention to the task of recreating war enthusiasm 
among our own sorely tried people. It seemed 
desirable that our new proteges, the Albanians, 
should manifest their national consciousness and 
aspirations in some dramatic way and that they 
should appeal to us to help them. An Albanian 
congress with representatives from all over the 
world as well as from Albania was just what was 
needed. An Albanian congress organizing com- 
mittee was accordingly quickly set to work and the 
Congress was announced to open on March 1, 1913. 

On January 24, 1913, the first act in our new war 
drama occurred just as it had been rehearsed. 
The Young Turks sprang their cowp d'etat under the 
leadership of Enver Bey, the young Jewish Turk 



138 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

who had been the hero of the Turco-ItaHan War 
and of the Revolution. A Young Turk govern- 
ment was set up which announced as one of its 
cardinal principles the necessity for the recapture 
of the Holy City of Adrianople. 

With a Holy Mohammedan war thus satisfactor- 
ily launched by our Turkish friends we were free 
to turn to the cultivation of the budding aspira- 
tions of our Albanian proteges. The organizing 
committee of the Albanian Congress originally 
planned to hold their meetings in the Festive Hall 
of the patriotic society known as "Austria," but 
they finally decided to hold it in Tina di Lorenzo 
Hall of Dreher's Brewery in Trieste in order to 
guard against arousing the suspicions of unsym- 
pathic observers that there was collusion between 
the congress and our government. On the ap- 
pointed day Dreher's Brewery became the cradle 
of the new Albanian nation. No less than 500 
Albanian patriots had come as delegates not only 
from their Fatherland, but from Rumania, Dal- 
matia, Greece, Spain, Italy, and even from far-ofif 
America. 

At the opening session the president of the 
organizing committee introduced with appro- 
priate eulogistic remarks the representative of 
the Imperial and Royal Government of Austria- 
Hungary. This dignitary was none other than 
Police Director Mahovec, who had rendered dis- 
tinguished service in the arrest of Pan-Serb con- 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 139 

spirators during the high-treason trials described 
in a previous chapter. The poHce director closed 
his address with the words that he hoped in the 
near future to see Albania "a free and independent 
state" and took his seat amid a storm of applause. 
On the second day the congress was addressed by 
Count Heinrich Taaffe, a member of one of the 
greatest noble families of Austria. The noble 
count expressed his desire to see the "birth of a 
Greater Albania." "Austria-Hungary," he said, 
"will help the new state in every possible way." 
He concluded with the exclamation: "Long live 
Greater Albania!" whereupon the 500 delegates 
rose as one man and shouted: "Long live Austria! 
Long live the Triple Alliance!" 

A teacher delegate exhorted his hearers to go to 
Albania and "with the sword of Scanderbeg put 
to flight the band of brigands who want to destroy 
the Fatherland." The delegates were greatly ex- 
cited to discover in their midst a Prince Scanderbeg 
who claimed descent from the national hero whose 
sword they were thus exhorted to use. A letter 
was read from an absent patriot in Kroja, Albania, 
which said: "Ten thousand armed Albanians are 
assembled in the vicinity of Allessio, and fighting 
has already begun." On the third day a letter 
from Count Berchtold was read in which he ex- 
pressed his best wishes for the welfare of Albania 
and the "Albanian Nation." This letter seemed 
to inspire one of the delegates to spring to his feet 



IM) THE INSIDE STORY OF 

and irijike the modest proposal that Greater Al- 
bania should inelude the whole of Old Serbia as well 
as Macedonia. He also proposed that " in the name 
of the Albanian Congress a general revolt be pro- 
claimed in Albania for the defence of the Father- 
land." *'The Albanian," he continued, "never 
forgets his vendetta and let whomsoever agrees 
wiLh me," exclaimed the orato'- in Ihunderous tones, 
"raise his hand and solemnly swear the bessd** 
[the Albanian oath]. All the five hundred sprang 
from their seats and raised their hands, exclaiming: 
"We swear — on with the struggle for liberty!" 
After this one of the delegates shouted amid ap- 
plause: "We shall make of Kossovo* [Old Serbia] 
a Serbian cemetery." 

Then a Catliolic priest, in the midst of a storm 
of applause, thanked their great benefactors the 
King of Italy and His Apostolic Majesty the F]m- 
peror of Austria-Hungary and their respective 
F'oreign Ministers for their august support of the 
Congress. A delegate from Bucharest assured 
the assembly that "Rumania is watching with 
sincere sympathy the resurrection of Albania." 
A delegate from Boston addressed the gathering 
as follows: "Italy and Austriji will do everything 
possible to give us a Greater Albania, but this will 
not suflice. We also must do our duty. We are 
the ones who must make war!" And with the cry: 



♦The famous battle iu which the Serbs were defeated by the Turks in 
1389. 



AUSTRO-GERIVIAN INTRIGUE 141 

'*To arms! to arms!" the orator concluded his 
speech amid thunderous applause. Another dele- 
gate quoted statistics showing that there were, all 
told, 1,800,000 Albanians. Another priest then 
took the floor to advocate the "creation of a buffer 
state made up of the Kutzo-Wallachs," a race of 
shepherds scattered over the IVIacedonian moun- 
tains. This state should form a "buffer state be- 
tween Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Albania; being, 
however, under the protection of Greater Albania." 
The crowning moment of the congress arrived 
when Lieutenant Haessler of the Austro-Hungarian 
army pointed out on a map "how the Albanian 
frontiers must be drawn," exhorting the congress 
"loudly to raise its voice for all four vilayet,s 
[provinces], that is, for the Greater Albania, as 
already proposed by delegate Cacarigi." In con- 
cluding, the president said that Albania now 
needed only three things: "A flag, a gun, and cart- 
ridges." Thereupon — with shouts of, "Long live 
His Majesty Emperor Francis Joseph! Long 
live the Archduke Francis Ferdinand! Long 
live the Hapsburg monarchy!" — the congress 
adjourned. 

Through this same Lieutenant Haessler in the 
spring and summer of 1914 we liberally provided 
the Albanians with these three things which they 
lacked according to the president of their congress, 
as will be disclosed in a subsequent chapter. 

In describing this birth of a nation the daily 



142 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

papers of Trieste mentioned that the congress had 
received from the Austro-Hungarian Government 
a subvention of 50,000 kronen. This report was 
never denied by Count Berchtold who might per- 
haps be described as the efficient, though absent, 
midwife of the occasion. The president of the 
congress, however, indignantly denied that any 
motives save self-sacrificing patriotism had led 
his lusty mountaineer compatriots to travel from 
all corners of the globe to the now immortalized 
hall of Dreher's Brewery. He published a state- 
ment showing that the entire expenses of the con- 
gress had amounted to only 1,132 kronen and 78 
hellers (about $200.00). Even this modest sum, 
he claimed, was contributed in greater part by 
two aspirants to the throne of Albania and not by 
the government of Austria-Hungary. 

Meantime the Czar and his government were 
struggling to meet the peace overtures of Francis 
Joseph without endangering the safety of their 
great country. They were perhaps excusable if 
they did not regard the events in Turkey or 
Albania as quite consistent with the pacific pro- 
testations of our emperor. There was another 
disturbing factor with which they must reckon. 
Persistent reports were circulated that two groups 
of men were struggling for the rudder of the Aus- 
trian ship of state, one group under the nominal 
leadership of the aged emperor and the other led 
by the ambitious and energetic heir to the throne. 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 143 

There were times when the highest officials did not 
know whose orders to obey. They were trying 
to serve two masters. As this situation became 
known in a general way to the man on the street 
it naturally did not escape the attention of Russia's 
diplomats. The extreme old age and weakness, 
both physical and mental, of the Emperor, on the 
one hand; the aggressiveness of the heir to the 
throne, on the other; the daily expected death of 
the one, to be followed by the ascension to the 
throne by the other, made our courtiers and poli- 
ticians sway like willows in a wind. When the old 
man fell into a state of torpor they swayed to the 
side of the heir. When he rallied and had a period 
of senile energy they swayed back to bow again 
their servile backs before their choleric old master. 
This dual control resulted in the greatest confusion 
in the upper councils of the Government. This 
pulling and hauling for the rudder of the ship of 
state created apprehension at home and distrust 
abroad. 

The mission of Prince Hohenlohe to the Czar 
gave our old friend Kania de Kanya, the chief of 
the press bureau, a providential opportunity to 
alarm our people as to Russia's dark designs upon 
them. Each day the Ballplatz press pictured as 
more and more hopeless the efforts of Prince 
Hohenlohe to dissuade Russia from her warlike 
designs upon us. The war dread of our people 
was by no means lessened when on the 4th of 



144 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

March, 1913, they learned that Chancellor 
Bethmann-Hollweg of Germany was about to 
call upon the Reichstag to raise the peace footing 
of the German army to the enormous figure of 
more than 870,000 men and to levy a special mili- 
tary tax of more than a billion marks upon the 
people of the nation. It was further understood 
that the Chancellor was taking this action at the 
behest of his royal master. Coming at a time of 
special tension over Albania and the Balkan situa- 
tion in general it could only be assumed that 
Germany's immense increase in armaments was 
immediately related to those situations. This 
assumption was confirmed by the German press. 
Germania, the medium of the German Centre 
Party, which had become one of the strong pro-war 
groups, said in explanation of these increased arm- 
aments: "The assumption heretofore existing that, 
in a European war, the Balkan States could be held 
in check by Turkej^ has become untenable in view 
of the present state of affairs. To-day Austria 
finds herself in case of war face to face with two 
fronts." 

Early in January the Czar had declared that he 
would not allow himself to be dragged into war. 
The three hundredth anniversary of the coming 
of the Romanoffs to the throne of Russia was to 
be celebrated on March 6, 1913. The Czar was 
particularly anxious that his efforts in behalf of 
international peace should be emphasized on this 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 145 

occasion. He desired that the world-wide public- 
ity which the occasion would naturally call forth 
should be used to promote the idea of world peace. 
He was therefore particularly desirous, at this time 
of all others, to demonstrate Russia's pacific at- 
titude toward her neighbours. 

Accordingly on March eleventh Czar Nicholas 
accepted the unfair proposal of Emperor Francis 
Joseph and agreed to disperse the men of the class 
of 1910 while Austria-Hungary was to reduce to 
peace strength her forces on the Galician frontier. 
The Petrograd Telegraph Agency in announcing 
this demobilization added: *'As appears from the 
discussions carried on with the cabinet of Vienna, 
the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy harbours no ag- 
gressive intention toward its southern neighbours." 
This was a clever bit of Russian diplomacy which 
put the Ballplatz in a very uncomfortable position. 
When in the course of the negotiations on demobili- 
zation the Russians had pointed out the unreason- 
ableness of our demand that they demobilize while 
we refused to demobilize against Serbia on our 
southern frontier, the least our side could say in re- 
joinder was that this mobilization indicated no 
aggressive intentions toward our southern neigh- 
bours. In other words, the obvious lie which 
our diplomats had told in the decent obscurity 
of secret diplomacy was now trumpeted abroad 
to all the world. "The Czar of Russia has ex- 
tended his hand to Emperor Francis Joseph in 



146 AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 

order that the three hundredth anniversary of the 
reign of the House of Romanoff may be an un- 
forgettable moment for the whole world — that 
of the triumph of peace, whose enthusiastic adher- 
ent the present emperor, Czar Nicholas, ever has 
been, as was also his august father." Such was the 
comment on this memorable event in Petrograd 
and Paris. 



CHAPTER VII 

Bethmann-Hollweg Predicts War Between 
"Germandom and Slavdom," April, 1913 

Austria's ultimatum to montenegro 

WHEN Kaiser Wilhelm learned of the Czar's 
decision to accept the proposal of Francis 
Joseph to reduce the strength of the Rus- 
sian army on the Galician frontier, in an exuberant 
order of the day to his own army, he exclaimed: 
" Gott mit uns ! " The day after the announcement 
that Russia had accepted our proposal Count 
Berchtold stated in the Austrian Delegations: "We 
have vital interests in the Balkans for the protec- 
tion of which we must under all circumstances in- 
tervene." It will be noted that this is practically 
the same statement which Berchtold made in the 
critical days of December, 1912, when our armies 
were daily expecting the order to march against 
Serbia. At the same time General Conrad von 
Hoetzendorf, the Chief of the General Staff, that 
tireless advocate of "war at any price," came out 
with this characteristic statement: "Our monarchy 
is too patient, she is treating Serbia and Monte- 
negro with too great leniency. She must show her 

147 



148 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

fighting will to counteract the evil designs of her 
neighbours and she must at any cost retain her 
influence in the Balkans. By war we must, ac- 
cording to the military idea, augment the prestige 
of the monarchy and win for it more respect." 
Now that Russia had committed herself to a peace- 
ful policy our war advocates threw off all restraint. 
They demanded with ever-increasing boldness im- 
mediate war — war for the "redistribution of the 
earth." This had become their modest slogan. 
One of the Court councillors elucidated this new 
slogan in an article which appeared in the January- 
March, 1913, issue of Oesterr. Rundschau. In this he 
makes the statement: "We are trying in these 
historical times to act as history requires. The 
great wide world is knocking at our door. We 
must rush out and make world history. As the 
possible fruit of such action there lies before us the 
whole Oriental world — Turkey, Persia, and China — 
which are doomed to destruction, and we might 
have also Morocco and Tunis, and possibly even 
Egypt. Parts of Asia and Africa as well as Europe 
are the great goals which to-day command the 
attention of Europe." 

The hated London Conference of Ambassadors 
was a constant stumbling block to our war propagan- 
dists. No sooner did we think up some demand 
which seemed sufficiently preposterous to provoke 
war than the tireless ambassadors would secure its 
peaceful acceptance by the Balkan States and Russia. 



AUSTRO-GERIVIAN INTRIGUE 149 

In the meantime, we had to content ourselves 
with the piKng up of armaments. This process 
went forward as briskly as in the most palmy days 
of the Prochaska affair. We turned our special 
attention to the building up of a great air fleet 
and to the development of a great new gun factory 
in Hungary. The proclamation authorizing this 
gun factory was signed by Archduke Karl Franz 
Joseph, the last Hapsburg Emperor, in his then 
capacity as a major in the Ordnance Department. 
This was a branch factory of the famous Skoda 
Works. The great Hungarian Jewish munition 
manufacturers, Manfred Weiss and Deutch & Son 
of Budapest, were financially interested in it as in 
the parent factory. The Krupps of Germany 
and the Hungarian Government were also finan- 
cially involved in the enterprise. 

This rampant militarism was, if possible, even 
more flagrant in Germany. There all the anti- 
military Sauls seemed to have been converted by 
the apostles of militarism into militaristic spend- 
thrift Pauls, to whom henceforth no demands for 
armaments on land or sea could be too great. 
Even the Socialists joined in this orgy of militarism. 
Russia's legitimate aspiration for a free passage 
through the Dardanelles and Serbia's equally 
legitimate desire for a commercial corridor to the 
Adriatic were given as reasons for this reckless 
prodigality in military expenditure. The Balkan 
Alliance was referred to as "overbalancing the 



150 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

scales in favour of Slavdom." And all Germany 
constantly reiterated that "Germanic Austria" 
must serve as the advance guard in stemming the 
advance of the Slavs. 

When the Ballplatz learned that six thousand 
Serbs were marching over the mountains to the aid 
of their Montenegrin brothers who were closing 
in on Skutari the Old Gray House (the Austro- 
Hungarian Foreign Office) became almost a mad- 
house. The "press reptiles" were let loose and be- 
gan to shriek in the war press: "The future World 
War has again received a new name, and that name 
is Skutari." "Europe," wrote the Neue Freie Presse, 
"which is rolling up billions and bringing up the 
peace strength of its armies to a height never be- 
fore dreamed of, resembles one of those electric 
travelling cranes with a capacity for carrying im- 
mense loads but which if a pebble is caught in its 
mechanism is easily put out of order. The pebble 
is Skutari, and Europe the Titan who could crush 
the whole Balkans between its thumb and fore- 
finger without being aware of any exertion, endures 
the malicious teasing of the march of new Serbian 
battalions against the encircled fortress without 
defending itself against the worry. Will Skutari 
fall and will its fall develop new complications 
threatening the peace of Europe.^" But as the 
march of the Serbs was completely in conformity 
with the rules of warfare, Skutari being a Turkish 
fortress defended by Turkish troops, and as we 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 151 

could not go to the rescue of the Turks without ex- 
posing ourselves to the obloquy of intervening for 
the decaying Mohammedan power and against the 
liberation of Christian people, we had to have some 
more presentable cause for entering the war. Since 
this time our General Staff for strategical reasons 
desired to invade Montenegro we needed a casus 
belli against that valiant little country, the "eagle's 
nest" of the Jugoslavs. 

Accordingly, Count Berchtold ordered the *'Lit- 
erary" Bureau to discover at once what Monte- 
negro had done to violate international law or to 
flaunt the sensitive honour of the Dual Monarchy. 
He had only a few days to wait. On the 21st 
of March Austria-Hungary and Germany were 
"shaken by the terrible news" that a Franciscan 
monk, Father Angelus Palitch, had been foully 
murdered by Montenegrins! The war press 
shrieked for vengeance for this "incredible crime" 
— "this crime that was crying to Heaven for 
vengeance!" "A reliable report," said the Neue 
Freie Presse in its issue of March 21st, "giving the 
details of this crime, discloses that it was committed 
with bestial ferocity and barbarity and in a hor- 
rifyingly bloody manner. The adventures of the 
Franciscan Father Palitch are politically of great 
importance. We must protect the peasants of 
Djakova who are robbed of their most essential 
rights. We must insist upon the investigation of 
the base crime against the Franciscan Father 



152 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

Palitch not only because since olden times has the 
right to protect Albanian Catholics belonged to 
Austria-Hungary, but even more because the new 
situation in the Balkans, which our Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs has pledged itself to take cogni- 
zance of, logically presupposes that the laws of 
humanity and civilization must not be trodden 
under foot so near our frontiers." On the same 
day the Catholic organ, the Reichspost, said: "The 
Austro-Hungarian charge d'affaires in Cetinje, 
Consul General Weinzetl, has made energetic de- 
mands on the Montenegrin Government for satis- 
faction for the more-than-obvious violations of 
international law which have so deeply offended 
the honour of Austria-Hungary. Should the Mon- 
tenegrin Government fail to meet the demands, then 
diplomatic action will take a more cogent form and 
finally even military coercion will be adopted if 
necessary to give Austria-Hungary full satisfac- 
tion. Austria-Hungary demands the following: 
first, the unhampered exodus of civilians from 
Skutari; second, an investigation of the death 
of the Catholic priest, Father Palitch, murdered 
by Montenegrins near Djakova (when Austria- 
Hungary laid the demand before Montenegro that 
the bestial assassination of this priest be investi- 
gated in the presence of an Austro-Hungarian 
Consular official, the Montenegrin Government re- 
fused to comply, declaring that in districts occupied 
by Montenegrins, Montenegrins only had the right 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 153 

to conduct investigations. This reply signifies 
an unfriendly attitude toward Austria-Hungary); 
third, the coercive measures to force Albanians 
into Orthodoxy must cease henceforth; fourth, com- 
plete satisfaction must be given for the lawless acts 
which were committed by Montenegrin military 
and civil authorities against the steamer Skodra at 
San Giovanni di Medua." In conclusion, this 
article stated: "What will happen next will depend 
entirely upon the behaviour of the Montenegrin 
Government. Most likely the crisis will speedily 
develop, but important as the grievances of our 
monarchy and Italy are, the underlying cause of 
the crisis is the desire of Montenegro and Serbia to 
capture the town of Skutari and thus cut off for 
Albania the very possibility of existence for the 
future." 

The lawless acts which were committed by 
Montenegrin military and civil authorities against 
the steamer Skodra took place when the Hun- 
garian steamer Skodra, owned by the steamship 
company " Ungaro-Croata, " was commandeered 
by the Montenegrin authorities to help disembark 
helpless Serbian soldiers from Greek transports 
which were being shelled by a Turkish warship in 
the harbour of San Giovanni di Medua. As both 
skipper and crew of the Skodra were blood kin to 
these Serbian soldiers and gave their assistance 
gladly the commandeering was of course only a 
formality. This act of mercy was, in spite of this, 



154 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

branded as lawless by our scrupulously law-abiding 
diplomats who had seized and held whole prov- 
inces contrary to law. In order to enforce our 
demands upon our new enemy — this time an arid 
patch of mountain country inhabited by 250,000 
people — we dispatched a whole squadron of our 
fleet in battle array to the Montenegrin coast. 
Thus seven battleships, an equal number of 
cruisers, and a whole flotilla of torpedo boats 
patrolled the open roadstead outside the shallow 
harbour of Antivari. Truly Goliath was on the war- 
path against David! And Goliath had the back- 
ing of the greatest military power on earth. On 
March 23d an inspired article in the Nord- 
deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung said: "Austria-Hun- 
gary is determined to secure satisfaction from 
Montenegro for her violations of international law. 
In so doing she is acting not only for the protection 
of her own violated rights and interests but also for 
the protection of international law and for the 
principles of European civilization." 

The Austro-Hungarian version of the manner in 
which the Franciscan monk, Father Angelus 
Palitch, met his death was as follows: On March 
7th several fanatical orthodox ministers together 
with some Montenegrin soldiers attempted to com- 
pel 300 Albanian Roman Catholics to embrace the 
orthodox faith. The 300 were tied with ropes and 
given their choice between orthodoxy and death. 
Among the 300 was Father Palitch who, on his re- 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 165 

fusal to abjure his faith, was beaten with the butt 
ends of rifles and finally bayoneted. According to 
the Montenegrin version of the affair Father Pa- 
litch was arrested by the Montenegrin police for 
attempting to stir up revolt against Montenegro 
among the Albanians and was being taken under 
escort from Ipek to Djakova, together with other 
suspected persons, to be tried on this charge. On 
the journey he broke away from his escort and at- 
tempted to escape. His guards three times sum- 
moned him to stop, but he paid no attention, 
whereupon they fired upon him and killed him. 
These two contradictory reports about the death 
of Father Palitch were all that the public had to go 
by until the Vienna Zeit, on April 13th, came out 
with the following recital: "Two interesting docu- 
ments are published here to-day. The one is a 
manifesto of the Committee for the Promotion of 
Austro-Hungarian Literary and Humanitarian In- 
terests in Albania. The other is an official Ser- 
bian statement on the post-mortem inquiry into 
the death of the Franciscan friar. Father Palitch, 
whose alleged martyrdom for refusal to embrace 
orthodoxy figured prominently in recent Austro- 
Hungarian semi-official indictments of Montenegro. 
According to this Serbian statement the post- 
mortem inquiry was made yesterday at Djakova by 
two Montenegrin doctors and one Serbian doctor 
in the presence 'of the consuls.' The inquiry 
established the fact that Father Palitch was killed 



156 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

at a considerable distance by rifle shots. There 
were no traces of bayonet wounds. Should this 
statement be substantiated by the consular re- 
ports, the blood-curdling story of Father Palitch's 
martyrdom, supplied to the Neue Freie Presse 
from an unspecified source, and reproduced by the 
Reichspost, would rank with the stories of the treat- 
ment of Consul Prochaska; and the Montenegrin 
declaration that Father Palitch was shot in at- 
tempting to flee from political arrest would be con- 
firmed." 

The death of Father Palitch as a possible 
casus belli was rendered finally untenable by this 
brief announcement which appeared three days 
later: "The mixed commission which has been 
holding an inquiry into the death of the Catholic 
priest, Palitch, who was arrested on a charge of 
publicly inciting the Albanians against the Monte- 
negrin authorities and was killed, yesterday signed 
its report. It is declared that the commission found 
no convincing proof that Palitch was beaten and 
maltreated in prison by the Montenegrin authori- 
ties, and that no evidence was forthcoming of his 
premeditated murder by the Montenegrin escort." 
Disappointing as these findings must have been to 
the Ballplatz, our war leaders at least had the sat- 
isfaction of knowing that they had presented our 
"energetic demands for satisfaction" to Montenegro 
before the chief charge upon which they rested had 
been shattered. 



AUSTRO-GERMAN mTRIGUE 157 

Even before this disappointing report appeared, 
however, the plans of the Ballplatz for bringing on 
war had been foiled again by the good offices of the 
abhorred Conference of Ambassadors. On March 
28th they had sent a collective communication re- 
garding Skutari to the Montenegrin Government to 
the effect that, since the powers had reached an 
agreement regarding the northern and northeastern 
frontiers of Albania, Montenegro was "invited": 
first, to raise the siege of Skutari; second, to dis- 
continue hostilities in the territory allotted to 
Albania according to the aforementioned agree- 
ment; third, to proceed rapidly to the evacuation 
of this territory. Naturally enough Montenegro 
and her ally, Serbia, had no opportunity to decline 
these unwelcome "invitations." Thus for the 
third time our diplomacy, and that of Berlin, won 
its ostensible object and lost its real object — war. 
A clamour of protest again arose against Berchtold 
and his associates for deceiving the public. Doctor 
Kramarz, the Czech authority on foreign affairs, 
again voiced his periodic protest: "The Prochaska 
affair is not the only thing that Kania (the head of 
the "Literary" Bureau) is guilty of. A second 
such affair is this of the Franciscan monk, Palitch. 
To him awful things had happened; to this man 
originally represented by the Neue Freie Presse to be 
a saint. That he scarcely deserved. We have 
done that which would be possible in no other 
country: we have kept the augmented effectives 



158 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

under the colours for six raonths and our army partly 
mobilized. Everywhere the report was spread that 
Russian troops were mobilized in great numbers 
on our frontier. Not a word of this was true. I 
declare on good authority that Russia retained 
under the colours only her last year's class of re- 
servists and they were not held on the Austrian 
frontier, but in the interior of Russia." 

So serious was the tension in Europe created by 
our never-ending demands and bellicose attitude 
that the ambassadors at the London Conference 
were in a state of mind to yield to our every whim 
rather than have us run amuck and plunge Europe 
into the horrible disaster of a general war. Con- 
sequently they complied with their usual alacrity 
to our next demand which was for a naval demon- 
stration of the Great Powers against Montenegro 
to enforce the decisions of the Conference. Hence 
the Great Powers, including even Russia, who au- 
thorized France to represent her, in order to humour 
and temporarily pacify our war-mad diplomats, 
consented to participate in this international opera 
comique. The might of Europe fittingly symbol- 
ized by its ironclads assembled in the Adriatic to 
threaten Lilliput Montenegro with death and de- 
struction if she did not obey the orders which had 
been sent her. But for our statesmen and their 
Berlin collaborators this apparently humorous per- 
formance known as the Flotten-Demonstration had 
a very much more serious purpose than the 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 159 

coercing of helpless little Montenegro. They 
hoped by means of this cooperative action to 
commit, at least diplomatically, Russia, France, 
Great Britain, and Italy to their policy of hostility 
toward Montenegro and Serbia; indeed in some de- 
gree at least to their whole Balkan policy. If this 
hope were realized they might reasonably expect 
to secure the consent of the powers to occupy 
Montenegro and Serbia just as they had in 1878 
won their consent to occupy temporarily Bosnia 
and Herzegovina. With this once accomplished 
they would be free to undertake the conquest and 
partition of Russia — their real ambition. 

In commenting on this naval demonstration 
the Neue Freie Presse said: '* England and France 
are represented among the men-of-war lying at 
anchor in the roadstead of Antivari [a Montenegrin 
port]. The commanders of the vessels will do the 
rest. Their soldiers' hearts will not permit them 
to allow their fleets to become an object of de- 
rision. There is no retreat, even for Russia, who 
empowered France to represent her. The dip- 
lomats can wind themselves like snakes and swallow 
their words. The admirals will not do this: they 
will not bring shame to their flags." The next day 
the official press became still more threatening 
and outspoken when the same organ announced: 
*'The monarchy was not one of the originators of 
the London Conference of Ambassadors. It will 
submit to its decisions as long as it sees fit. Sku- 



160 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

tari must become Albanian, be it with the consent of 
Europe or, if it must be, and Russia thus wills it, 
without the consent of Europe. The monarchy in 
demanding this will not stand alone." Light was 
thrown upon this final sentence a few days later 
when on April 4 th Herr Von Jagow, the German 
Foreign Secretary, said in the Reichstag: "The 
German Empire stands faithfully with Austria." 
And a few days after that its meaning was made 
still clearer by Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg 
when he said in the Reichstag in introducing the 
army and taxation bills: "'One thing is beyond 
doubt. If it should ever come to a European con- 
flagration which would set Slavdom against Ger- 
mandom, it woidd be for us a disadvantage that 
the position in the balance of forces, which was 
hitherto occupied by European Turkey, should 
now be filled in part by Slav states.'' These words, 
coming as they did after the Chancellor's announce- 
ment in December that Germany would "fight" 
for Austria, were particularly full of sinister sig- 
nificance. He continued : " We are endeavouring to 
lessen the tension between Austria-Hungary and 
Russia concerning the Balkan problems as far as 
possible, but in spite of this we must not put our 
head in the sand. That we shall remain faithful to 
our ally beyond mere diplomatic mediation goes 
without saying." 

These words created indignation among all Slavs 
everywhere and they were by no means accepted 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 161 

without question by the more liberal German lead- 
ers. The social democrat, Haase, for instance, in 
referring to the Chancellor's reference to the con- 
flict between Slavdom and Germandom, said: 
*'The German people, and I think I know the senti- 
ments of the great masses, will refuse to go to war 
for the imperialistic aims of the Austrian prestige 
policy." The frivolity of such an undertaking 
would cause indignation such as we have never yet 
witnessed in Germany. The Russian people have 
no thought of war." 

The conciliatory attitude of Russia in consent- 
ing that Skutari be awarded to Albania, in violation 
of both the interests and the rights of Montenegro 
and Serbia, caused a brief relaxation of the inter- 
national tension and gave the peoples of Austria- 
Hungary a little breathing space in which to 
look about them. At this time, on April 12, 1913, 
Sergius Sazonoff, the Russian Minister of Foreign 
Affairs, made the statement that "difference in 
race by no means leads inevitably to antagonism 
between races." This was generally accepted by 
the peoples of Austria-Hungary as Russia's reply to 
Bethmann-HoUweg's reference to *'the conflict 
between Slavdom and Germandom." It was 
taken as an assurance that the Slavs of Russia at 
any rate had no desire for war. This reassurance 
was increased by the announcement that the 
Czar was to attend in Berlin the wedding ceremony 
of the Princess Victoria Louise, the Kaiser's 



162 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

daughter, in spite of the offensive sabre-rattling of 
the German Chancellor. These indications of a 
return to normal conditions were gratefully noted 
by the nerve-wrecked and tax-burdened peoples of 
the Dual Monarchy. 

Official Austria, however, was quick to detect 
and resent these symptoms of a desire for friendly 
relations with her Teutonic neighbours on the part 
of Russia. As the surest way of arousing Russian 
resentment the semi-official press taunted Russia 
with having "sold out the Serbs ten times over" 
by consenting that Skutari be taken from Monte- 
negro and Serbia. When on April 23 d the news 
arrived from Cetinje that Montenegrin troops had 
entered Skutari the Ballplatz press fairly seethed 
with rage. The cry went up: "With or without 
Europe's consent send our troops (who were ready 
and waiting on the Montenegrin frontier) to cor- 
rect with the sword the errors of our diplomacy, 
and to heal with iron the failures of our diplo- 
macy." On the 25th, Count Berchtold made rep- 
resentations to the Conference of Ambassadors in 
London asking that "coercive measures be adopted 
against Montenegro because of her opposition to the 
will of Europe." "These coercive measures," 
read his message, "should be carried out by all 
the powers or by the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy 
alone as the mandatory of Europe." The Neue 
Freie Presse said in an inspired article commenting 
on this proposal: "If the Great Powers will act 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 163 

in accord, peace will be preserved and Montenegro 
will receive the proper punishment; should this 
hope be vain our monarchy will declare, just as 
Count Anton Auersberg says in one of his verses: 
^Ich bin so frei, frei zu seirC; there are only two 
alternatives, with Europe or against Europe, Sku- 
tari must become Albanian." 

Count Mensdorf, our Ambassador in London, 
proposed to his colleagues of the Conference that 
'*they force Montenegro to evacuate Skutari by 
authorizing Austria-Hungary to occupy forthwith 
Montenegro's only harbours, Antivari and Dulcigno, 
not by an inter-allied detachment taken from the 
international fleet gathered opposite the Monte- 
negrin coast, but through an expeditionary force 
strong enough eventually to operate against 
Skutari.'* As always. Count Berchtold sought to 
persuade Europe that "Balkan affairs are no con- 
cern of Russia's, but are solely matters to be settled 
between Austria-Hungary on one side and Monte- 
negro or Serbia on the other. . . . Should 
diplomatic notes be insufficient, iron must decide!" 
At the same time he addressed a circular note to the 
Powers the gist of which was: "Austria-Hungary 
cannot tolerate the situation created by the en- 
trance of Montenegrin troops into Skutari. The 
prestige of the Great Powers has been assailed. 
Austria-Hungary therefore invites the Powers to 
decide what steps are to be taken to restore that 
prestige. Should the Powers fail to arrive at a 



164 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

speedy decision Austria-Hungary would feel com- 
pelled to take steps which would assure the will of 
the Powers being respected and compel Monte- 
negro to evacuate Skutari." 

A statement published in Vienna on April 27th 
said: "In the course of Saturday afternoon Baron 
Conrad von Hoetzendorf [Chief of the General 
Staff] had a long conversation with Count Berch- 
told, and toward 7 p.m. went with him to 
Schoenbrunn, where they conferred with the 
Emperor until 8:45. This morning's journals are 
careful to point out that His Majesty consequently 
retired to rest later than usual. 

"To-day the Austro-Hungarian heir-apparent 
arrived in Vienna and had a long audience of the 
Emperor this afternoon. 

"Baron Conrad von Hoetzendorf has for the past 
week been urging upon Count Berchtold and the 
Emperor the absolute necessity of some kind of 
military action to save the prestige of the mon- 
archy among the Southern Slavs and to raise the 
morale of the Austro-Hungarian officers, who 
would be disheartened were their long winter of 
hardship and effort to end tamely in a demobiliza- 
tion." 

About a week later semi-official agents of the 
Foreign Office were spreading the rumour that 
"Austria-Hungary will to-morrow address an ul- 
timatum to Montenegro, and that military action 
against Montenegro will immediately follow unless 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 165 

the ultimatum is complied with. Should Monte- 
negro resist and be assisted by Serbia," add these 
agents, "Austria-Hungary will regard the Monte- 
negrin or Serbian territory she may occupy as 
territory definitely conquered." 

The open rejoicings of the Slavs of Austria at 
the victory of little Montenegro over the hated 
Turks still further increased the rage and bitterness 
of our military and diplomatic leaders. The 
Czecho-Slavs in the north, the Slovenes, Croats, 
and Serbs in the south, were in a state of joyous 
exultation. In Prague, Zagreb, and Ljubljana the 
police were kept busy hauling down the flags which 
the people raised in honour of the victory of their 
Montenegrin and Serbian kinsmen. 

At this critical juncture of affairs we opened con- 
versations with Rome to find out how far we could 
rely upon Italian cooperation in using force against 
recalcitrant Montenegro. Count Berchtold, as 
indeed all Austrian statesmen, was always more 
than skeptical of Italy's willingness actively to 
support the policies of her Teutonic allies when it 
came to a "show down." Just because of this 
doubt of Italy's devotion to our policies we were 
particularly anxious actively to engage her in a 
military venture on our side. We felt that if she 
could be induced to aid us in forcing the Monte- 
negrins and Serbs to evacuate Skutari that she 
would then feel obligated to follow the course once 
entered upon even though it should lead to war 



166 AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 

against Russia and France as we believed and hoped 
it would. On May 2d Italy announced that she 
had "accepted the invitation of Austria-Hungary 
for armed intervention in Albania by landing 
Italian troops at Valona." 

Thus once again all was going smoothly for our 
diplomacy and there seemed to be hardly a possi- 
bility that the long-coveted war could be again 
avoided. Even the loyal Neue Freie Presse, organ 
of the Semitic business interests, had said a few 
days before: "Contrary to our wishes the sword 
will have to decide. ... In the next few days 
we will see the monarchy underline her word with 
the sword for the first time since the occupation of 
Bosnia and Herzegovina." 

The Austrian Poles again declared their blind 
loyalty to the monarchy and its Germanic foreign 
policy. This they did in spite of the fact that only 
a fortnight before the Prussian Diet had authorized 
an expenditure of 175 million marks for the ex- 
propriation of the Poles of Prussia, and in spite 
of this comment made at the time by the Prussian 
Minister, Baron Schorlemer: "The Prussian Gov- 
ernment has the holy duty to aid Germandom 
{DeutscJitum) in the economic and national strug- 
gle against the Poles: this particularly in view of 
the possibility of a world war." 



CHAPTER VIII 

TiszA, Austria-Hungary's Man of "Blood and 
Iron," Comes to Power, June, 1913 

austria-hungary urges italy to join the 
central empires in european war, august, 1913 

"T WAS the Slavs who once more frustrated the 
cunningly planned Austro-German assault upon 
humanity. On the advice of Russia both Monte- 
negro and Serbia surrendered unconditionally to 
our demands. On May 6, 1913, King Nicholas 
of Montenegro informed Sir Edward Grey, as the 
president of the London Conference of Ambassa- 
dors, that he placed the fate of Skutari in the hands 
of the Great Powers. The same day the Serbs 
evacuated Durazzo and again renounced their 
"little window on the Adriatic." At the same 
time the Czar showed his willingness to overlook 
the many evidences of Teutonic spite and enmity 
by carrying out his previously announced inten- 
tion to attend the marriage in Berlin of the Kais- 
er's daughter, the Princess Victoria Louise. 

Meantime, thanks to the secret machinations 
of our diplomacy, the strained relations between 
Serbia and Bulgaria had almost reached the break- 

167 



168 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

ing point. Bulgaria had mobilized on Serbia's 
frontier, ready for instant attack upon her ally. 
Serbia issued a statement saying that "a strict 
observance of the Treaty of Alliance is excluded in 
view of the results of the war; Serbia cannot cede 
to Bulgaria the territories conquered by the 
Serbian army." 

The yielding of Russia and her small proteges 
gave our harried people another short breathing 
space. It had long been tlie policy of our govern- 
ment so to alarm the people by the dangers sup- 
posed to be threatening them from outside our 
borders that they would be too distracted to give 
attention to the innumerable internal ills with 
which they were afflicted. The sword of Dam- 
ocles was ever suspended over their heads. But 
this sword was now blunted by excessive use and 
the people looked about them. What did they see.'' 

In Bohemia relations between Germans and 
Czechs had become so strained that the whole 
administrative machinery was paralyzed by the 
never-ending obstructionist tactics of the German 
minority faction in the Diet. The home budget could 
not be voted and no taxes could be collected in the 
richest crownland of the monarchy. The war of 
nationalities in Galicia was just as acute. The 
Governor-General threatened to resign because of 
his inability to secure any kind of a working agree- 
ment between the Poles and the Ruthenes. The 
conditions in the other provinces were almost as 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 169 

bad. Added to the never-ending Internal political 
and nationalistic conflicts were the thousands of 
economic wounds from which the old empire was 
slowly but surely bleeding to death. By the mid- 
dle of May, 1913, the internal situation had become 
so ominous that our statesmen dared not sound the 
usual alarms about the external dangers which were 
alleged to be threatening us for fear of precipitat- 
ing in the Delegations a debate on Internal con- 
ditions. 

In Hungary the situation was no less desperate. 
Even the most confirmed optimists began to despair 
of the future of the monarchy. The officials of the 
Foreign Office were particularly gloomy. They felt 
that the disruption of the ancient empire was now 
inevitable. Those of them who were Hungarians 
were openly preparing themselves for the complete 
separation of Hungary from Austria. They even 
parcelled out among themselves the posts in the 
new Hungarian Foreign Office, which, as they 
believed, would soon be established. This prospec- 
tive golden opportunity for more jobs considerably 
mitigated their grief over the desperate plight of the 
empire. The heads of the Government were faced 
with three alternatives. Either they must grant 
radical reforms which would transform the old 
empire from the bottom up and which would 
abolish the century-old special privileges of the 
rulers and the ruling classes including the Court, 
the nobility, the high ecclesiastics, and the gentry. 



170 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

as well as^ the bankers, merchants, and manufac- 
turers who grew rich on government contracts; or, 
secondly, they must plunge into the universal 
catastrophe of a great war in the hope of flounder- 
ing through with their previous privileges intact; 
or, finally, they might drift on in the cross currents 
of indescribable confusion until the constantly in- 
creasing poverty and suffering of the great masses be- 
came insupportable and produced civil war. Since 
the foreign war alternative was the only one which 
offered the ruling classes as such any chance of sur- 
vival it was naturally the one they chose to act 
upon. But before taking the great plunge it was 
essential to put their house in order or at any rate 
to give it the temporary appearance of orderliness. 
This was especially necessary in order to inspire the 
confidence of their great German ally who had 
learned from Bismarck to be distrustful of the 
Hungarian portion of the empire. A strong man 
completely devoted to the Dual Monarchy in its 
then existing form and enjoying the full confidence 
of the ruling classes of Germany and particularly of 
the German Kaiser himself was needed in Hungary 
to bring order out of the chaos which the weak and 
incompetent government of Premier Lukacs had 
created. 

The man selected for this task was Stephan 
Tisza. *' The apple does not fall far from the tree," 
as the proverb says. Tisza was a true son of his 
father — of the man who had ruled the turbulent 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 171 

Magyars with a rod of iron. In fact, the son as 
Premier, eight years before, had shown the same 
iron hand. And last but not least, Tisza was 
"persona gratissima to Kaiser Wilhelm. In him 
therefore were concentrated the hopes of the 
Viennese Court camarilla. He must be their 
saviour from this dangerous situation. He was the 
relentless man who, with "blood and iron," would 
drive the discontented, desperate masses into the 
reeking slaughter houses of a great war. Tisza 
did not disappoint their hopes. He became the 
stormy petrel of the mighty hurricane which pres- 
ently swept over Europe. He was a man of un- 
flinching determination, apparently without nerves, 
and even in the most desperate situations his 
presence of mind never deserted him. He sub- 
jected himself to iron discipline and demanded that 
his subordinates do the same. He was always 
permeated with the consciousness of being in the 
service of his king, and subordinated his personal 
affairs to what he believed to be the interests of that 
service. He had had an operation on his eyes 
which prevented his glancing to right or left with- 
out turning his head. He had always to look 
straight ahead. This physical limitation seemed 
to have transmitted itself to his character. He 
pursued his purposes relentlessly without turning to 
right or left. Bismarck had remarked that in 
Hungary there were only two kinds of politicians — 
lawyers and hussars. Tisza was a hussar. When 



172 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

asked, on assuming power, how he would overcome 
the opposition of the deputies who were not con- 
vinced by his arguments he repHed: "I shall bring 
in the soldiers or the police." On June 4, 1913, 
just after Tisza had taken office this comment on 
his methods appeared in the press: "A year ago 
to-day Count Tisza, as President of the Hungarian 
Parliament, ordered the police to eject the ob- 
structionist opposition from the Chamber. To-day, 
the captain of the Hungarian Parliamentary 
Guards was belabouring an opposition deputy with 
his sabre in the Chamber." 

This was the way Tisza carried out the Emperor's 
mandate to bring the Hungarian Parliamentary 
opposition into line with the policies of the Govern- 
ment. On June 11th the new Premier thus ad- 
dressed the Labour Party: "Does not the external 
situation demand that we abandon all pusil- 
lanimity; does not the external situation require of 
each member of the nation that he do everything 
in his power in order that the whole attention of the 
whole nation be concentrated upon its great vital 
interests, which perhaps now will decide the fate of 
the nation for centuries to come.^" In a speech 
the next day he said: "The harmonious coopera- 
tion of all the factors in the monarchy is a necessity 
both for upholding the monarchy as a great power 
and because the very existence of the Hungarian 
nation is dependent on the maintenance of the 
monarchy as a great power." In conclusion he 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 173 

said: "I am convinced that the Hungarian nation 
and the monarchy will find their places and will 
emerge from this development with a new lustre; 
but we must throw all our mental and material 
powers, all our political ripeness and all our moral 
preparedness into the service of this great aim; 
great interests are endangered; we have been 
thrown into the scales of world history and upon 
our own weight depends whether we shall make 
those scales rise or fall." Thus through the mouth 
of "the bloody Tisza" did Austria-Hungary chal- 
lenge Russia in particular and the Entente in gen- 
eral to mortal combat! 

The Premier's words were supported by that 
veteran war organ Oesterr. Rundschau in an article 
entitled: "Austria-Hungary and Russia's Historic 
Mission" signed by "Austriacus." The modest 
anonymous author said: "The Japanese-Russian 
War proved that Russia, before whose might all 
Europe trembled, was not invincible and after the 
defeat of Russia in the Far East, not only the people 
of this empire, but the whole of Europe, began to 
breathe more freely. Nevertheless, world peace 
is still in great danger, as can be clearly seen by the 
attitude of Russia in the Balkan crisis. Russia 
must therefore be weakened as Bismarck at first 
outlined, because only a weakened Russia will keep 
the peace." A second article in the same journal, 
written this time by a "High Oflficer," states: 
"Love of peace means fear of war, fear before that 



174 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

elementary force which undermines the old and 
decayed, and causes new buds to spring forth. We 
fear in case of misfortune that the standing of the 
monarchy as a great power may be jeopardized. 
Austria-Hungary, Rumania, and Bulgaria would 
make a splendid Balkan Triple Alliance, established 
on a solid foundation and in which each member 
would find a free field for its own activities in spite 
of its collaboration with the others. . . . Serbia 
would thus have her hands bound. Austria- 
Hungary could then bring into action nearly her 
whole military forces against her strongest enemy 
[i. e., Russia]." 

As has been mentioned before, the creation of 
Albania by the fiat of the Great Powers deprived 
Serbia of her longed-for outlet on the Adriatic. As 
a consequence of this action of the Powers, Serbia 
declined to turn over to Bulgaria the portions of 
Macedonia which had been assigned to her by the 
Treaty of Alliance. 

Here was an opportunity for our diplomats to 
sow discord between the Balkan allies and disrupt 
the Balkan League which seriously menaced our 
aspirations in the Balkans. In these efforts we 
were successful despite the attempt of Russia to 
prevent a fratricidal war between the two Balkan 
states. 

Fresh from a conference Ynth Count Berchtold, 
Tisza thus stated our policy in the war which, 
through the intrigues of our diplomacy, was now im- 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 175 

pending between Bulgaria and Serbia : " Our starting 
point is naturally that here also the Balkan States 
are independent, and that they are, consequently, 
free to choose their own method of settling their dif- 
ferences. They may — ^and we should deplore it 
deeply if they did, but they are entitled to do so — 
choose the method of war, or they may choose 
mediation or a tribunal of arbitration. . . . 
Any other procedure* would possess the character 
of an intervention and would be totally incom- 
patible with the cardinal point of our policy, which 
is the independence of the Balkan States." 

King Ferdinand's reply to the Czar's appeal sug- 
gests that he and Count Tisza were at this time 
*'two minds with but a single thought." He re- 
pi'sd: "The Balkan States are strong enough to 
decide themselves concerning their weal and woe 
and will be faithful to every Great Power that will 
respect their independence." 

Soon after this on July 2, 1913, King Ferdi- 
nand's armies, relying upon our military interven- 
tion to assure their success, were hurled upon their 
Svr:)ian allies. They were speedily and painfully 
disillusioned. Before our diplomacy had time to 
prepare the way for military intervention the 
Serbian armies, by a series of lightning-like blows, 
had crushed their attackers and were marching 



*It should here be recalled that the Treaty of Alliance between Bulgaria 
and Serbia provided that any irreconcilable differences between them should 
be decided by the Czar of Russia. 



176 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

victoriously toward Sofia. Before our diploniats 
had recovered from their painful stupefaction at 
this sudden and unexpected turn of events the 
Bulgars had on July 10th placed their fate in 
the hands of Russia. Our lamentations were loud 
and long. "The east flank of the Triple Alliance 
is crushed," so they ran; *'the whole Triple 
Alliance has suffered a loss of power which cannot 
be made good by placing our armies on an even 
higher peace footing." Just as when Skutari was 
taken, the oflScial lamentations were drowned by 
cries of joy wherever Slavs were living. Little 
Serbia stood triumphant on the battle-field oncei 
more. In the wreck of their schemes our diplo- 
macy had, however, one great consolation which' 
was thus expressed: "Beside the corpse of Bulgaria 
lies also the corpse of the Balkan Alliance, that 
innermost, true alliance, the union of states and 
peoples who are striving toward a single object; 
that alliance will never rise from the dead." 

No amount of explanation, however, could alter 
the fact that the outcome of the Balkan Wars had 
been a severe blow to the prestige of the Teutonic 
Powers and was likely to postpone, if it did not 
completely wreck, their scheme for the creation 
of a Mittel-Europa. Turkey, the protege of 
Germany, had been practically excluded from 
Europe. From the wreck of the Ottoman Empire 
arose greatly enlarged and strengthened, Serbia, 
Bulgaria, and Greece. Not only had the territories 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 177 

of these states been enlarged but their national 
consciousness had been stimulated. 

Moreover, in both of the Balkan Wars our diplo- 
mats had "backed the wrong horse." Our dis- 
appointed war leaders determined, therefore, to 
strike Serbia before she was able to recover from 
the wounds of the Balkan struggle. Much de- 
pended upon Italy's attitude, because at this time 
we were not disposed to risk starting the war with- 
out Italy's adherence. Accordingly, we asked 
Italy whether she would support us in an attack on 
Serbia — whether she would accept our view that 
the attack was defensive and that therefore she 
was obligated to aid us under the terms of the 
Triple Alliance. In a speech in the Chamber of 
Deputies on December 5, 1914, Giovanni Gio- 
litti, the Italian Premier, said of this effort: "Dur- 
ing the Balkan War, on August 9, 1913, I received 
the following telegram from the late Marquis di 
San Giuliano, Minister of Foreign Affairs: 'Austria 
has communicated to us and Germany that it has 
been their intention to act against Serbia, defining 
such action as defensive and hoping for an appli- 
cation of a casus foederis by the Triple Alliance, 
which I consider inapplicable.' I answered Mar- 
quis di San Giuliano thus: 'If Austria attacks 
Serbia a casus Joederis evidently does not exist. It 
is an action she undertakes on her own account. 
It is necessary to declare this to Austria in the most 
formal manner, hoping that Germany will act to 



178 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

dissuade Austria from a very dangerous ad- 
venture. 

Meantime, Count Berchtold had repeated con- 
ferences with the Emperor at Bad Ischl, the im- 
perial summer residence. One such conference was 
held on July 5th at the outbreak of the Second 
Balkan War, when Bulgaria attacked Serbia. Our 
immediate forcible intervention for Bulgaria was 
considered but vetoed because of Italy's doubtful 
attitude. At later conferences held on the 16th 
and 17th of July, when Bulgaria already lay shat- 
tered on the battle-fields, we considered whether 
we should intervene to prevent Serbia reaping the 
advantage of her victory. We decided, however, 
that there was still hope that the peace terms about 
to be made at Bucharest might be twisted to our 
advantage and hence we once more stayed our 
"clenched fist raised about to strike." 

In spite of the protestations of King Ferdinand 
the Peace Conference at Bucharest took the normal 
course of conferences between victors and van- 
quished. By August 5th the growing resentment 
and alarm of the Ballplatz was thus expressed by 
one of its mouthpieces: "The Bucharest peace 
pourparlers are liable to cause anxiety in Austria- 
Hungary. The situation created by the exagger- 
ated demands of Serbia and Greece as well as other 
causes are unhappily bringing nearer and nearer 
the necessity for the revision by Austria-Hungary 
of the whole peace work." It will be observed that 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 179 

our tender solicitude for complete independence of 
action among the Balkan States began to wane 
now that such independent action was not to our 
liking. From then on the necessity for the re- 
vision of the Treaty of Bucharest became our 
insistent cry. The Peace Conference at Bucharest 
adjourned on August 8th. It will be noted that it 
was at this very time that we asked Italy whether 
she would support us in a "defensive attack" upon 
Serbia. Two days later Count Berchtold made 
this official comment on the Treaty of Bucharest: 
"International revision or political revision, that 
is the question which must be decided at the 
present time," and at the same time he went again 
to Bad Ischl to discuss the situation with the 
Emperor. The old monarch was much impressed 
by Italy's decisive answer to our overtures and felt 
that our diplomacy had blundered again in leading 
us unto a position where we could not obtain the 
support of our southern ally. 

Undoubtedly Kaiser Wilhelm shared our em- 
peror's disappointment over the Treaty of Bucha- 
rest, but he shrewdly concealed it. In fact, he at 
once telegraphed King Carol of Rumania that he 
accepted the Peace of Bucharest as final. He be- 
gan also to show special favour to Rumania. 

The Ballplatz, on the contrary, came out with 
the statement: "The result of the Bucharest 
Peace Conference cannot be considered as final, 
but at best as furnishing valuable material for a 



180 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

conference of the Powers which will be called upon 
to revise the findings of the Balkan States." The 
best explanation of this apparent conflict between 
the views of Vienna and Berlin is given by Baron 
Von Chlumetzky, the spokesman of Archduke 
Francis Ferdinand, in his publication Oesterr. 
Rundschau* from which we have so often quoted. 
In it he says: "Austria-Hungary was obliged to 
put its weight in the scales in favour of Bulgaria, 
if it did not want to betray the great interests 
that were at stake. The statesmen of the Triple 
Alliance must not be afraid to show occasionally 
divergent principles, if this serves the cause of 
the Triple Alliance itself by preventing the for- 
mation of a Balkan confederation under the 
auspices of the Triple Entente. If Count Berch- 
told and Herr Von Jagow, following the principle 
of the division of labour — by separate marches 
and united attack — come even one step nearer 
their objective, they may easily ignore the frog 
croaks over the apparent estrangement between 
Vienna and Berlin." 

On August 26th, while we were clamouring for the 
revision of the Treaty of Bucharest and blackening 
the names of Serbia and Russia, the long-suffering 
Czar again extended an olive branch to our em- 
peror. The Russian Ambassador presented to 
Emperor Francis Joseph an invitation from Czar 
Nicholas to bless the Russian chapel in Leipzig 

♦Vol. 36, July-September, 1913. 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 181 

which had been erected to commemorate the 
victory over Napoleon in 1813 and which was to be 
consecrated simultaneously with the great German 
monument erected for the same purpose. This 
friendly act on the part of the Czar and his govern- 
ment stirred even the deadened conscience of old 
Francis Joseph and he once more awoke to the 
character of the conspiracies which were being 
hatched by Francis Ferdinand and his confederates, 
Berchtold, Von Hoetzendorf, and the irrepressible 
Tisza, who was striving to become known to fame 
as the Bismarck of Austria-Hungary. While the 
old emperor remained in this mood the heads 
of those who had brought such indescribable mis- 
fortunes upon the people of the monarchy were 
in danger of falling. By the middle of September, 
1913, the imperial disapproval had led both Count 
Berchtold and Baron Conrad von Hoetzendorf to 
feel a longing for retirement and the quiet life. 
Count Berchtold was preparing to retire to the 
management of his vast estates in Hungary or 
Moravia. Any change in the *'01d Gray House" 
would have been welcomed by the people generally 
as a change for the better. 

Baron Conrad von Hoetzendorf, Chief of the 
General Staff, whose official demise would have 
been even more welcome to the people, felt that he 
had been flung aside by the inexorable course of 
events on the world stage. For the moment he 
was tired and disgusted. One consideration only 



182 AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 

kept him and his tool, Count Berchtold, from 
quitting in disgust — the consoHng thought that 
the ag«d emperor could not hang on much longer 
and that then Francis Ferdinand would become 
the "All Highest" and they would be free to work 
*' their own sweet will." Although their master 
never became emperor, in less than a year he had 
in quite a different way rewarded them for their 
patience by bringing them their heart's desire — ^war 
against Serbia and Russia. 



CHAPTER IX 

Emperor Francis Joseph Pronounces World 
War Inevitable, May, 1914 

tisza counts on half the german army for war 
against russia, march, 1914 

IN APPROACHING the last series of Austro- 
Hungarian machinations in the years 1913-1914 
I wish to quote the prophetic views of three 
statesmen. First, Count Andrassy, fresh from the 
Congress of Berhn at which Austria received the 
mandate temporarily to occupy Bosnia and Herze- 
govina, said to Emperor Francis Joseph: "Maj- 
esty, I am bringing you the keys which will unlock 
for us the gate to the Orient." Second, Peter 
Shuvaloff, the Russian statesman, wrote four years 
later: "I am convinced that the giving away of 
Bosnia and Herzegovina to Austria will one day 
imperil the European peace. From there will come 
the spark which will ignite the powder, and in the 
glow of this all-devouring fire the Slav problem 
will then have to be solved." Finally, Ivan Hribar, 
a Jugoslav statesman said ten years before the 
world war: "Bosnia will be the grave of Austria- 
Hungary." 

183 



184 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

Indeed, "whom the Gods would destroy they 
first make mad." It was as if an inexorable fate 
was driving the old empire to self-destruction. We 
were at peace with all our neighbours. We were 
fairly prosperous, although labouring under old 
internal evils, until Count Aehrenthal conceived 
the idea of curing the latter by war; war with 
Serbia, war with Russia, and, if necessary, war 
even with Italy. With a fanatical tenacity we 
evoked the war-spectre until it became a ghastly 
reality. 

The years 1914-15 were regarded in Austria- 
Hungary as the time limit for starting a successful 
war against Serbia and Russia. There were several 
reasons for this. 

First, Bulgaria was humiliated and the Balkan 
League was shattered. It was important for us 
not to allow the situation in the Balkans to crys- 
talize so as to prevent a revision of the Treaty of 
Bucharest. 

Second, the destruction of the Balkan League 
brought in its wake the virtual *' secession" of Italy 
from the Triple Alliance. Hence the necessity 
for Austria-Hungary and Germany to revise their 
diplomatic and military plans for the conquest and 
partition of the East. 

Third, Russia was growing stronger every year 
and would be in 1917, according to calculations of 
our war leaders, able at least to defend herself 
against the united aggression of the Central Powers. 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 185 

Up to 1915, at the latest, she was powerless, as we 
thought, against our invasion. 

Fourth, the internal political chaos and economic 
depression of Austria-Hungary if allowed to mature 
would have dissolved or weakened the empire so 
irremedially that an active external policy, to say 
nothing of a great war, would have been unthink- 
able. 

Fifth, in 1917 the Ausgleick between Austria 
and Hungary, regulating the economic relations 
between the countries had to be renewed or the 
disruption of the old empire would have become an 
accomplished fact. 

Sixth, in 1917 the commercial treaty of Germany 
with Russia, which she had concluded in the Russo- 
Japanese War, and which practically made Russia 
a German province, expired. 

All of these circumstances are significant in 
explaining the feverish anxiety of the war parties 
in the Teutonic Empires to precipitate the Euro- 
pean crisis before the balance in international 
affairs became unfavourable to them. 

Our disappointment at the refusal of Italy to 
join us in the attack on Serbia lasted only so long 
as it took us to rearrange our plans according to 
the changed circumstances. Italy or no Italy, war 
had to be brought about. We were prepared to 
the last button; Russia was not. Our general 
staff grumbled; it had already perfected its plans, 
and was unwilling to wait. Count Berchtold had 



186 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

failed to provide a plausible cause or pretext for war. 
A new orientation of our whole policy became im- 
perative, in view of the changed conditions in the 
Balkans and within the Triple Alliance. The two 
ringleaders of the war groups, Kaiser Wilhelm and 
Francis Ferdinand, decided to meet to consider the 
main points of the future policy. The meeting was 
set for October, 1913. 

In the meantime, we hastened, on the one hand, to 
consolidate our position in the Balkans; and, on the 
other, to obliterate traces of our criminal designs. 
First, we gave Bulgaria a loan of thirty million 
francs. We were without money ourselves; the 
year previous we had gone to America to get money 
for our mobilization in the Prochaska crisis, but 
Count Berchtold himself now ordered the directors 
of all our banks to scrape together the money. 

The conference of the Kaiser and the Archduke 
took place at the castle of Konopisht on October 
27, 1913, after which they proceeded to Vienna to 
lay their plans before the old emperor. Quite 
ingeniously our Foreign Office commented on the 
meeting at Schoenbrunn in the following manner: 
"Emperor William comes to Vienna just at the 
right time, because the adherents of the Alliance 
need more than ever before to see the two monarchs 
— as the personification of the treaty — side by 
side." Before the meeting of the kaisers was 
adjourned, it was decided to hold one more meeting 
before the European conflagration broke out. 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 187 

This meeting was fixed for the spring of the follow- 
ing year, 1914. 

The fruits of the meeting at Konopisht were soon 
visible. Before the meeting of the two kaisers. 
King Ferdinand of Bulgaria had arrived at his 
castle in Murany in Hungary, and soon afterward 
transferred his residence to Ebenthal, near Vienna. 
When Kaiser Wilhelm left, the King met Count 
Berchtold, by whom he was very heartily re- 
ceived. At this first meeting after the Bulgarian 
catastrophe. King Ferdinand received from Count 
Berchtold once more the promise that Austrian 
diplomacy would not rest until it had brought 
about a revision of the Treaty of Bucharest. It 
was thought by some persons that the King was 
still wavering between the Triple Alliance and the 
Triple Entente, but such was not the case. Bul- 
garia had already received from Austria, as we have 
seen above, the first instalment of a loan and had 
placed an order with the Austrian Waffen-Fabriks- 
Aktien-Gesellschaft for the completion of her 
armaments. King Ferdinand was at that time in 
the camp of the war-plotters of the Central Em- 
pires. 

Although the King was advised to hasten back 
to Sophia, where great bitterness prevailed against 
him, he lingered in Vienna long enough to be 
received in audience by the Emperor twice. 
These audiences were more than an indication 
how painfully and pressingly the Central Empires 



188 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

needed Bulgarian friendship, because it was just at 
that time that the pubhc in Austria-Hungary was 
aroused by the pubHcation in Paris of the text of 
the Serbo-Bulgarian Treaty of 1912, That treaty 
provided for an offensive and defensive aUiance 
and was a surprise to the people of Austria- 
Hungary, because it contained the clause that 
Bulgaria was to come to the help of Serbia with 
:200,000 troops if the latter should be attacked by 
Austria-Hungary. The complete adherence of 
King Ferdinand of Bulgaria to the policy outlined 
in the first meeting at Konopisht was the last link 
in the formation of the great conspiracy of the 
Germanic princes against the peace of Europe. 
This conspiracy comprised, besides the two rulers 
of the Central Empires and the kings of the 
German Empire, King Ferdinand of Bulgaria, 
King Carol of Rumania, King Constantine of 
Greece, and Count Tisza, the uncrowned king of 
Hungary. That Rumania's immediate entry into 
war on the side of the Central Empires was not 
effected in the first days after the outbreak of the 
war was not due to any reluctance on the part of 
King Carol, but to the almost unanimous opposition 
to such action among his responsible statesmen. 

In order to encircle Russia completely with hos- 
tile powers the unconditional adherence of Turkey 
to the Austro-German war programme was neces- 
sary. For this purpose a new coup d'etat was 
carried out which practically placed Turkey com- 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 189 

pletely in the power of the Central Empires. On 
the very day on which in Bulgaria the pro-German 
Radoslavoff was once more entrusted with the 
formation of a ministry, Enver Bey, the tool of 
Germany, was appointed Minister of War, and 
made a pasha. These changes took place on the 
4th of January, 1914. Thus Turkey came into 
the circle of the conspirators, and Enver Pasha 
played the role of a German prince in Turkey thus 
completing the war alliance of Germanic princes 
formed to destroy Serbia and overwhelm Russia. 
With Enver Pasha there also came into power 
Talaat Bey. 

The necessary arrangements having been com- 
pleted, it was decided to postpone everything to the 
spring of the following year in order to avoid a late 
winter campaign. Before starting a new campaign 
of incitement for war and of fabricating a casus 
belli, our diplomats felt it absolutely necessary to 
put themselves before Europe and the whole world 
in a proper light. Europe had become tired of the 
constant machinations of our diplomats and states- 
men against the peace of the world. The affair 
of August 9, 1913, when Count Berchtold asked 
San Giuliano to start the World War by attacking 
Serbia, was then known to the diplomats of Vienna 
only. Berlin and Rome were anxious to impress 
upon the world how peace-loving they were. 
Emperor Francis Joseph himself in his speech from 
the throne on November 19th said that the Austro- 



190 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

Hungarian Government "throughout that troubled 
period aimed at the protection of the poHtical and 
economic interests of the Dual Monarchy and the 
consolidation so far as possible of the situation in 
the Near East. Thanks to the proved readiness 
of the army and navy it has been found possible 
to attain these ends by peaceful means." 

Count Berchtold spoke openly of the "existence, 
during the last crisis, of sentiments hostile to the 
monarchy not only among certain Balkan states, 
but also among the Great Powers." Count An- 
drassy and Count Karolyi, on the other hand, con- 
sidered that "grave mistakes have been made by 
Count Berchtold in maintaining the principle of the 
status quOy in demanding a revision of the Treaty of 
Bucharest, and in the attitude adopted shortly 
before the outbreak of the second Balkan War, 
which could not fail to produce an impression that 
Austria-Hungary wished to provoke hostilities. 
Austria-Hungary did not allow the Balkan situation 
to become crystallized. Austria-Hungary has often 
put diflSculties in Serbia's way, and she seems in- 
clined to continue to accentuate this policy." 

That the World War did not break out, in 
August, 1913, instead of August, 1914, was due, in 
the first place, to Russia's conciliatory attitude; 
secondly, to the wise policy of Great Britain as 
conducted by Sir Edward Grey; and, finally, to the 
Italian statesmen who — although going very far 
in their complaisance with the policy pursued by 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 191 

the Ballplatz — ^nevertheless became alarmed at 
the eleventh hour at the prospect of a world con- 
flagration, and declined to follow Austria's lead. 

A new issue with Serbia arose from the attempt 
of the Serbian Government to purchase the shares 
of the Orient railroad line. The possession of 
the majority of the Orient railway shares by a 
syndicate of Austro-Hungarian and German banks 
gave the monarchy a strong voice in the settle- 
ment of the question — ^made it, in fact, an Austro- 
Hungarian, if not an Austro-German, question. 
This purchase in the spring of 1913 of a requisite 
number of shares to bring the majority into 
Austrian and Hungarian hands was effected at the 
instance of the Vienna Foreign Oflice. The pur- 
pose of the transaction was — ^first, to keep the 
"road to Salonica" open; and secondly, to enable 
Austria-Hungary to control, through the medium 
of the company, the development of the railway 
systems in the western Balkans. The value which 
was set upon the possession of this control as the 
means of attaining the former object was em- 
phasized by Count Berchtold in the Austrian 
delegations. 

A still more vivid light was thrown upon the 
intentions of our diplomacy by the special solicitude 
which Count Tisza displayed in the Rumanian 
national question, and by the attitude of both the 
Austrian and Hungarian governments toward the 
Ruthenian population of northern Hungary and 



192 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

eastern Galicia. As regards the first, it must be 
remembered that there are living in the eastern 
part of Hungary, in Transylvania, some three 
million Rumanians, racial kinsmen of the people 
of the Kingdom of Rumania. It was considered 
as imperative by our diplomats, and foremost 
by Count Czernin, our Minister at Bucharest, to 
satisfy to some degree the national aspirations of 
the Transylvanian Rumanians in view of the ex- 
pected world war, as the discontent in that 
part of the country was intense. The most 
implacable enemy that the Slavs and Rumanians 
of Hungary ever knew, namely Count Tisza him- 
self, was negotiating with the Hungarian Ru- 
manians to bring them into the government fold 
in return for various concessions. Count Czernin 
said in a conversation with a press representative 
that an understanding with the Hungarian Ru- 
manians would effect an improvement in the rela- 
tions between the monarchy and Rumania. Tisza, 
however, denied absolutely that there was any con- 
nection between the negotiations with the Ruman- 
ians and the relations between the monarchy and the 
Rumanian Kingdom. Finally Tisza's negotiations 
with the Rumanian leaders definitely failed. In a 
long memorandum communicated to the Hungarian 
Premier the Rumanians stated that his proposals 
were not such as to remove, even for a short time, 
the differences which existed between the policy of 
the Hungarian Government and themselves. 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 193 

As regards the second question, namely the 
treatment of the Ruthenes in northern Hungary 
and Galicia, neither the Hungarian nor the Aus- 
trian government acted in a way to reconcile them 
with their lot. In this connection, two monster 
trials were instituted: one at Marmaros-Sziget in 
Hungary, and the other in Lwow, Galicia. To 
understand these new machinations of the Ball- 
platz it must be pointed out that among the races 
which composed the population of the Hungarian 
crown there were about a half million Ruthenes. 
They were settled along the northeastern fringe 
of the country on the southern slopes of the Car- 
pathians. On the other side of the mountains 
three million of their brethren lived under Aus- 
trian rule in Galicia, and some twenty-five million 
were subjects of Russia. The Ruthenes in Aus- 
tria-Hungary are for the most part peasant folk, be- 
longing to the Greek Catholic or Uniate Church, 
which preserves the Orthodox rite but acknowl- 
edges the Pope. During recent years there has 
been, however, a tendency in some districts to 
leave this church for the Greek Orthodox religion 
to which the mass of Ruthenes in Russia belong. 
In this movement the Hungarian Government pro- 
fessed to see a definite agitation with a political 
purpose — namely, the ultimate absorption into the 
Russian Empire of the Ruthenian districts of Hun- 
gary. 

The Marmaros-Sziget treason trial, which lasted 



194 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

for months, was conceived on a large scale (just as 
was the Zagreb trial in 1908-09). When the pro- 
ceedings began, the accused numbered 189 persons, 
but there remained on the day of the opening of the 
trial only 84, the rest having been discharged. 
Chief among them was one Alexi Kabalyuk, other- 
wise known as Father Alexi, who together with 
24 of his companions was charged with having 
cooperated with three brothers by the name of 
Gerovsky of Czernovitz, in Bukovina, to convert 
the Ruthenian Uniate population of Hungary to the 
Russian Church, and to unite the parishes under 
the Metropolitan of Kieff ; this they strove to do by 
the distribution of pamphlets in which the Russian 
Church and the Russian national idea were glorified, 
and the Hungarian nation and the Greek Uniate 
Church decried. Prayers were said for the Czar, 
the Russian Emperor's family and army. Further- 
more, it was charged that they carried on agita- 
tion against the Hungarian state, having as its 
purpose the absorption into the Russian Empire of 
the Ruthenian districts of Hungary. 

The truth was that under Polish influences new 
customs and ceremonies, abhorred by the people, 
were introduced into the Uniate Church by their 
Metropolitan, Count Andrew Shepticky. As a 
result, thousands were leaving it, and were going 
back to the Orthodox Church. Uniate priests 
who remained faithful to the ancient Slavonic 
Liturgy, so loved by the people, were harshly 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 195 

persecuted, while Orthodox priests, although native 
Galicians, were imprisoned. The action of the 
Uniate ecclesiastical authorities, and not any propa- 
ganda from the neighbouring Russian Empire, was 
the cause of the Orthodox movement. 

On March 3, 1914, the state trial at Marmaros- 
Sziget closed. Thirty-two of the accused were 
found guilty of incitement against religion and the 
State, and 23 not guilty, the heaviest sentence, four 
and one half years, was passed on Kabalyuk; on the 
others from six months to two and one half years. 

This trial had scarcely ended before a similar one 
began at Lvow. In this case the charge of treason 
and Russophile agitation in favour of the Orthodox 
Church was levelled against Austrian subjects, the 
chief of whom were two priests, a writer, and a 
university student. The preliminary examination 
lasted nearly two years, the accusation covered 
190 closely printed pages, and over 100 witnesses 
were called. This trial of four Ruthenes on a 
charge of treason began at Lvow on March 9, 
1914. It differed in one respect only from the 
trial held at Marmaros-Sziget, the accused were 
not ignorant, but educated persons. They had 
been in prison nearly two years before the trial 
began. They were charged with fomenting agi- 
tation from 1909 to 1912 in favour of the incorpora- 
tion of Galicia into Russia, and of having spoken 
contemptuously in public of the Catholic religion. 
The proceedings were watched by two officers of 



196 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

the Austrian general staff, because three of the ac- 
cused were charged with espionage in the interest 
of Russia. 

During both trials a constant agitation was kept 
up in the Austrian and Hungarian press against Rus- 
sia. The papers constantly referred to the "sinister" 
influence of Russia. In Austria-Hungary they 
spoke of the "rolling rouble" that finds its way into 
the pockets of Austro-Hungarian citizens for the 
purpose of agitation, etc. While this new move-, 
ment against Russia was raging in Austria-Hungary,' 
it was thought necessary, by the German Foreign 
Office, to open an anti-Russian agitation simulta- 
neously in Germany, and what was said there in the 
very days when the political trials in Austria- 
Hungary were coming to a close was little short of 
an unofficial declaration of war against Russia. 
The campaign was opened by the Kolnische Zeitung 
on the eve of the day on which the verdict in the 
Marmaros-Sziget trial was expected. On March 
2d the same paper published an article by its 
Petrograd correspondent in which he dealt with the 
relations of Russia to Germany by declaring that 
"Holy Russia is not in a position to give backing 
by the force of arms to her political threats." 

But the campaign did not stop there. It in- 
volved the whole press of Germany. The Berliner 
Tageblatt outdid the Kolnische Zeitung in an arti- 
cle about the relations of Austria-Hungary and 
Germany to Russia, which it published on March 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 197 

9, 1914. "A preventive war," it said, "is in gen- 
eral to be condemned, but there are cases where 
a state is driven more and more into straits by an 
overwhelming adversary, and to save itseK cannot 
allow the enemy the choice of the most propitious 
moment. 

"It is impossible to let Russia go a step farther, 
and even then if it comes to war with her. . . . 
Germany and especially Austria-Hungary are 
sujflering heavily under the strain of their present 
armaments. They are better than ever prepared 
for war. With time, however, the chances are 
growing better for Russia. . . . The burden 
of the war in the eastern theatre of war will fall 
principally upon Austria-Hungary. From all we 
hear the Austro-Hungarian army is now well 
organized and equipped with all possible weapons. 
Russia is by no means invincible, and it is wrong to 
think that a victory over Russia would bring no 
fruit. On the contrary, Russia is the colossus with 
feet of clay. Her existence depends for the greater 
part on the need of peace or rather the good will of 
the inhabitants of central Europe." 

Chauvinists and militaristic writers enjoyed 
the utmost freedom. General Bernhardi explained 
in the Post that "Germany must be prepared for 
war in the near future," and attempted to show 
that "the recent French and Russian army meas- 
ures have created a new situation not foreseen in 
1913." The Pan-German press advocated German 



198 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

claims of all sorts, especially in Asia Minor, " \n aicli 
is still to be had but only if Germany does not 
shrink from the extreme test, that is reallj^ to risk 
war against Russia and France as well as Enghnd." 
There were then in the field the gun-makers, the 
ammunition manufacturers, the army and nav^y, 
the clericals, the Pan-Germans, and the Semitic 
business interests. There was little more to be 
desired, unless it were the adhesion of the Socialists 
who hated Russia and all her works. A& the 
Socialists had already placed themselves on record 
in the crisis of 1912 as favouring war against Russia 
and Serbia, their support was certain, and their 
attitude well known to the Government. 

Alarmed by so much noise about an immediate 
outbreak of war, the Hungarian paper, Az Est, 
sent one of its best correspondents to Petrograd 
to interview Sazonoff, the Russian Foreign Min- 
ister. Sazonoff's measured words are in striking 
contrast to the provocations against Russia con- 
tained in the Austro-German oflScial press. He 
stated that he was "imable to understand the sud- 
den outburst of excitement in Austria-Hungary 
and Germany." "Last year," he said, "tension 
between the monarchy and Russia certainly did 
exist, but that is a matter of the past." In regard 
to a certain tension or jealousy existing between 
Germandom and Slavdom, Sazonoff said that 
"the policy of great empires in this twentieth 
century is not conducted according to sentiments. 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 199 

The E^aerests are the decisive factors in this realistic 
world. A war as you picture it yourself would in 
our day be a world war. The interests of the 
world,, though, demand at all costs peace. The 
Treaty of Commerce between Russia and Germany 
must be renewed in 1917. But I see also in this 
field not a point which could lead to dispute. We 
are principally an agricultural state and Germany 
is our greatest market. It will not be difficult to 
come CO terms under such circumstances. In criti- 
cizing Russian armaments, the Austro-Hungarian 
press is apt to forget the very great increases 
which the monarchy has effected in the strength of 
her army by the reform of 1912 and by the bill 
presented last year and already passed by the 
Austro-Hungarian parliaments. Also do not for- 
get that our annual birth rate is three and a half 
millions. Consequently, we can allow ourselves 
an increase in the peace footing of our army. This 
is avtT^ury which ceases to be a luxury as soon as 
foreign armaments force us to similar measures." 
No plainer and no more reasonable words could 
have been spoken by a statesman of a threatened 
country than these of Sazonoff. To bring them 
into relief it is necessary to contrast them with the 
speech of the Austrian Defence Minister which he 
delivered the day after the Sazonoff interview. 
In introducing on March 13, 1914, the Recruit 
Contingent Bill, General Baron Georgi said: "It 
was generally hoped that it was permissible to 



200 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

look forward to a long period of peace. The mon- 
archy had during the Balkan crisis shown her love 
of peace and her disinclination to attack another 
state. Conditions in the Near East, however, were 
not yet sufficiently ordered to exclude the possi- 
bility that the monarchy might find herself 
suddenly, and even against her will, involved in 
war. Austria-Hungary's love of peace must not be 
regarded as weakness and no doubt must be allowed 
to exist that she was absolutely ready and decided 
to reply, if necessary, to any attack with a counter- 
attack." This statement is of significance, as it 
was made a few days before a further visit of Kaiser 
Wilhelm to Austria. 

While Kaiser Wilhelm deliberated with Kaiser 
Francis Joseph and Count Berchtold as to when and 
how best to precipitate the war, the German 
Kaiser again reminded the Viennese of his famous 
*' shining-armour" speech, by presenting to the 
City of Vienna a large plaque commemorating his 
reception seven years before at the Vienna City 
Hall. 

Commenting upon Kaiser Wilhelm's visit. Count 
Tisza in his Weekly Igazmondo on March 23, 
1914, said: "To-day sixty-five million Germans 
are opposed to only thirty-eight million French, 
and according to human foresight, Germany will 
more and more overtake her old foe in the future 
as regards population and military strength. What 
follows from this.'^ To-day three fifths of the 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 201 

population of Germany suffices to counterbalance 
France. Approximately two fifths of the German 
military strength is available to be thrown in the 
scales in case of a great world war in the east of 
Europe ... in this war we can count on 
nearly half of the German army. " 

Count Tisza was severely attacked for this article 
by Count Karolyi in the Hungarian Delegations on 
May 12, 1914. He pointed out the profound 
impression which Tisza's statements had made in 
the Dual Monarchy; and, in fact, in all Europe. 
"I do not want," he said, "to make the Premier 
responsible for the attacks on Russia. It is never- 
theless without doubt that the Premier has great 
influence on a certain part of the press. I am 
speaking now of his own article in which, so to say, 
he mobilized the German troops on the Russian and 
French frontiers. It is certainly an offence to a 
state if the premier of another state calculates in 
an article how many soldiers would suffice to over- 
throw the state in question, in this case Russia, and 
how to hold France in check. Nobody can call 
this tenderness. If the premier of a country writes 
such an article, it carries greater weight than if 
somebody else does it." 

By the preparations which were going on at the 
same time in the Austro-Hungarian embassies 
abroad, I know that the meeting of the two kaisers 
was of the utmost significance; that the date for 
the beginning of the war was set for the summer of 



202 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

1914; that the old emperor had been completely 
won over at that meeting to the views of the 
German Kaiser. Encouraged by his success 
Kaiser Wilhelm then proceeded to Trieste where 
on March 27th he had a meeting with his other 
archplotter, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, at the 
castle of Miramar. Confirmation of my views in 
regard to the conclusions that were reached at the 
meeting of the two kaisers (it must be noted 
that the greater part of my manuscript was written 
during the European war) was given by Mr. Mor- 
genthau, ex- Ambassador of the United States to 
Turkey, in his book, '* Ambassador Morgen- 
thau's Story" where he said: "The Austro-Hun- 
garian Ambassador to Turkey, Marquis Pal- 
lavicini, also practically admitted that the Central 
Powers had precipitated the war. On August 
18, 1914, Francis Joseph's name day, I made the 
usual ambassadorial visit of congratulation. Quite 
naturally the conversation turned upon the em- 
peror, who had that day passed his 84th year. 
Pallavicini spoke about him with the utmost pride 
and veneration. He told me how keen-minded 
and clear-headed the aged emperor was, how he 
had the most complete understanding of interna- 
tional affairs, and gave everything his personal 
supervision. To illustrate the Austrian Kaiser's 
grasp of public events, Pallavicini instanced the 
present war. The previous ISIay, Pallavicini had 
had an audience with Francis Joseph in Vienna. 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 203 

At that time, Pallavicini told me, the Emperor 
had said that the European war was unavoidable. 
The Central Powers would not accept the Treaty 
of Bucharest as a settlement of the Balkan question, 
and only a general war, the Emperor told Pallavi- 
cini, could ever settle that problem." Knowing, 
as I do. Marquis Pallavicini — I served under him 
while he was Minister in Bucharest — I can fully 
understand that he was capable of making such 
an important revelation to one of his foreign col- 
leagues, as he himself is neither keen-minded nor 
clear-headed, and is of a talkative disposition. 

But what Marquis Pallavicini forgot to mention 
was the fact that he himself had made at that time 
a stay of three days at Bucharest during which he 
sounded various political personages on the ques- 
tion of whether Rumania would follow Austria- 
Hungary and Germany in the event of the former 
declaring war, the Marquis affirming that Austria- 
Hungary would be obliged to proceed to this ex- 
tremity and that the replies given were in the nega- 
tive. 



CHAPTER X 

Austria Selects Albania as ^the Cradle for 
THE World War 

THE RECRUITING OF VOLUNTEERS FOR WAR IN 
ALBANIA, JUNE, 1914 

WITH or without the assassination of the 
Archduke Francis Ferdinand and with or 
without the so-called previous mobiliza- 
tion of the Russian army on August the first, 1914, 
war was decided by Austria-Hungary and Germany 
in March, 1914, for that very year or at the latest 
the following year; and nothing could have stopped 
the two war parties from carrying this decision into 
effect. 

This explains why we were again on the lookout 
for a pretext for war. As the machinations against 
Russia in the two Ruthenian trials had fallen flat, the 
Serbian wound was again opened over the matter of 
the control of the Orient Railway in Serbia. This 
controversy was in an acute stage at the time Baron 
Conrad von Hoetzendorf, Chief of the General Staff, 
was conferring with Count Von Moltke, Chief of the 
Prussian General Staff, on matters of the utmost 
importance, in the watering place of Karlsbad. 

204 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 205 

But soon an even better opportunity for our 
diplomats to make trouble in the Balkans arose 
once more in Albania, and the situation there 
shaped itself so favourably for fomenting trouble 
that both the Ballplatz and our General Staff were 
absolutely certain that in Albania the spark 
would be dropped which would explode the powder 
magazine of Europe. 

As a matter of fact, the first shot in the World 
War was not fired by the boy assassin of Sara- 
jevo, but by an Austrian officer at Durazzo, the 
capital of the new Kingdom of Albania. 

Before describing that scene it must be recalled 
that the Kingdom of Albania was created by the 
Conference of Ambassadors in London at the end 
of the First Balkan War. It lacked a prince, but 
one was soon found in a close relative of the Queen 
of Rumania; hence the particular interest which 
Kaiser Wilhelm and King Carol of Rumania, both 
Hohenzollerns, displayed in the Prince of Wied. 
In the past German princesses have overflowed 
the dynastic marriage market of Europe; a Rus- 
sian grand duke once called these German prin- 
cesses less gallantly than cynically '' marchandise 
d' exportation."' This bon mot could fairly be ap- 
plied also to German princes that have become a 
special article of export to the Balkans, as Carol of 
Rumania, Ferdinand of Bulgaria, and the Prince 
of Wied. It was at the close of February, 1913, 
that Prince William of Wied received at the an- 



206 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

cestral castle of his family at Neu Wied the 
Albanian deputation headed by Essad Pasha 
which offered him the Albanian throne. Before 
this new, artificially created "Emperor" ventured 
into his realm, he visited the courts of Europe 
and secured for himself from the various Euro- 
pean governments a big yearly subsidy in gold. 
Hardly was he seated, however, on his throne 
in the old court-house in Durazzo, which had 
been hastily converted into some semblance of a 
palace, than this newly made throne began to 
shake violently. Never did a prince face such a 
difficult situation. He had to deal with a race 
of which the northern half does not understand 
the southern half, and which is divided by three 
religions: Catholic in the north, the followers of 
the Orthodox Church in the south, and the devo- 
tees of Islam scattered all over the state. Ex- 
Sultan Abdul Hamid had disbursed a great 
deal of money among the Albanian mussulmans 
of the mountains; while Austria and Italy had 
vied with each other in the zeal which they dis- 
played in financing the Albanian chieftains and 
members of the clergy. The Mpret, the title of the 
new emperor, soon discovered that he was sitting 
on a powder magazine. Central Albania had al- 
ways been convulsed by bitter feuds. Homes 
there are like great fortresses with loopholes as 
windows. Indeed it was a primitive society where 
no dishonour was attached to brigandage and free- 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 307 

booting; where fighting was honourable and agricul- 
ture despised. In the north and in the south every- 
thing was in flux. The spirit that our diplomats 
had aroused to foment a great upheaval in the 
Balkans could not be appeased. The rebels who 
had been incited by the Ballplatz against Serbia 
and driven back by the latter into their own 
country, revolted now against their new ruler 
and marched on his capital. In this predicament, 
when the revolt was at its height, and the over- 
throw of the new emperor was impending, a con- 
ference was convoked by Count Berchtold at 
Budapest to decide on the measures to be taken in 
Albania and also on a general policy for the Balkans. 
In this conference the Italian Ambassador partici- 
pated, as did also Herr Von Tschirschky, German 
Ambassador and confidant of the German war 
party in Austria. First these men resolved on an 
Albanian coup d'etat and Essad Pasha, the all- 
powerful minister and the real ruler of Albania, 
and his wife were arrested and placed as prisoners 
on an Austro-Hungarian cruiser. This happened 
on May 20, 1914, but it was too late to save 
the throne of the Mpret. Three days later, when 
the insurgents marched on the capital, the Prince, 
his family, and staff, hurriedly took refuge on board 
an Italian war-ship. With this adventure, the 
reign of William I of Albania practically came to a 
close. There was much mutual recrimination in 
the Italian and Austrian press as to who counselled 



208 THE mSIDE STORY OF 

the Prince to flee. Count Forgach, then Under- 
Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said 
that the Prince acted on the advice of the Itahan 
Minister. However, the Prince returned to his 
palace when the insurgents were held up at the 
gates of his capital by his "army" headed by a 
party of enterprising Austro-Hungarian officers, 
who turned upon the insurgents the guns they had 
brought with them from the famous Skoda works. 
Count Forgach explained this occurrence by stating 
that "these officers were present in the town to test 
cannon which had come from Austria." "It was 
natural," he said, "that they could not stand by, 
inactive. But their participation in the affair was 
due to chance and not to a pre-arranged plan." 
The reader can estimate how much credence can 
be placed in the words of Count Forgach, made 
notorious through the forgeries and theft of docu- 
ments in the annexation crisis, if he realizes that 
the Austro-Hungarian officer who fired the first 
shot from a Skoda gun in the Balkans was none 
other than the notorious Lieutenant Haessler, 
known for his leading role at the Albanian Congress 
at Trieste. This was, in fact, the first shot fired 
in the World War. From that moment on sporadic 
fighting continued in Albania, until Austria offi- 
cially declared war on Serbia. 

Following this exploit the Austrian merchant- 
ship Herzegovina was chartered by the Albanian 
Government from a private company; Austrian 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 209 

guns were put aboard her, with Austro-Hungarian 
gunners, and she was sent cruising along the coast 
of Albania. She attacked the Albanian insurgents 
who had occupied the heights along the seacoast. 
Meanwhile, we had dispatched a squadron, in- 
cluding two dreadnaughts, to Albanian waters to 
relieve the Herzegovina, while the Kaiser ordered 
the German cruiser Goeben, of World- War notoriety, 
which was at Dedeagatch, to proceed immediately 
to Durazzo. The flames of the World War were 
breaking out in the Balkans, and the greatest activ- 
ity was apparent in the Ballplatz and in the Minis- 
try of War at Vienna. 

What the German Kaiser could not furnish con- 
veniently without disclosing to Europe his in- 
tentions, namely, the soldiers asked for by his col- 
league in Albania, the Aiistrians were asked to 
provide. It was expected that such action on the 
part of the Austrians would be interpreted by 
Europe simply as an act of good will with no serious 
significance. Count Berchtold promised, upon 
the advice of Herr Von Loewenthal, the Austro- 
Hungarian Minister to the Court of Albania, to 
raise a volunteer corps in Austria to fight in Al- 
bania, in the hope that through the fighting in 
Albania the whole of the Balkans would soon 
flare up. Our Minister of War had already, in 
February, 1914, with great foresight, established 
a three-months' course of instruction in the Alban- 
ian language for officers in the Austro-Hungarian 



210 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

army. Moreover, we had a nucleus of a fighting 
force already in Albania, batteries of quick-firing 
guns — a brand-new product from the famous 
Skoda works at Pilsen — with all the men necessary 
to man them, officers from our regular army, and 
many non-commissioned officers in the guise of 
mechanics, engineers, etc. 

While the great mountain manoeuvres of the 
Austro-Hungarian army in Bosnia were taking 
place our General Staff was organizing a volunteer 
corps at Vienna for warfare in Albania. We would 
have sent regular army units to Albania had we 
not feared to disclose our real intentions too soon. 
Volunteers, therefore, were considered as the safer 
way out of the predicament. This was just at the 
time when the Constantinople Committee of Union 
and Progress was about to expel all Greeks from 
Asia Minor and from Turkish Thrace as a prelude 
to war with Greece and the reconquest of Salonica 
and reoccupation of Macedonia. The only hitch 
in the plans of the war-maniacs of Austria was 
caused by the outburst in the Italian press which 
clearly showed that it was distrustful of interven- 
tion in Albania by Austria alone, and demanded 
that if there was to be intervention, it must be by 
Europe as a whole. 

In spite of the prospects of a brighter future 
which were opened to Turkey by the Austro- 
Hungarian diplomacy, the partition of Turkey 
between Austria-Hungary and Germany was a 



AUSTROGERMAN INTRIGUE 211 

foregone conclusion. Austria-Hungary was to re- 
ceive, besides the spoils in the Balkans, that part 
of Asia Minor of which Alexandretta is the virtual 
centre. What agreements were reached with Italy 
in regard to the modus operandi in the Balkans 
for the near future I am unable to say. It is to 
be hoped that the future will disclose what agree- 
ments if any were made in this regard at the con- 
ference of Kaiser Wilhelm, the King of Italy, and 
his Foreign Minister on board the Hohenzollern, 
at the end of March, 1914. It is certain that any 
extension of our sovereignty over the Balkans had 
to carry as compensation an extension of Italian 
sovereignty in Albania. It was Doctor Fried jung, 
with whom the reader is already familiar from the 
Friedjung trial of 1909, who published in his new 
monthly magazine, Der Greif, an article entitled: 
"The Content of the Triple Alliance in Regard 
to the Approaching Partition of Turkey in Asia." 
*'The so-called periodical renewal of the Triple 
Alliance," said he, "refers only to the German and 
Austrian agreements with Italy, whereas the 
Austro-German agreement is renewed automati- 
cally until and unless one or other of the powers 
gives notice of renunciation." His second point 
was that since 1887 Austria-Hungary had been 
pledged to allow Italy an equivalent expansion 
in the Balkans for any Austro-Hungarian expan- 
sion there. This provision has been kept secret 
out of regard for good relations with Turkey." 



212 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

These revelations Doctor Fried jung made on the 
strength of conversations he had had with Count 
Aehrenthal and Kiederlen-Waechter. The ques- 
tion arises, therefore, was our diplomacy willing 
to let Italy participate in the partition of the Bal- 
kans after the refusal of that country to join us 
in a world war in August, 1913? The possession 
by Italy of Valona would have meant the bottling 
up of the Adriatic. So keen was the desire of 
Count Berchtold to bring about the revision of the 
Treaty of Bucharest that he was willing to make 
even that sacrifice. As late as May 11, 1914, 
hardly six weeks before the death of Francis 
Ferdinand, Berchtold was severely criticized in the 
Hungarian Delegations for this concession to Italy, 
but he was upheld in his policy by the great 
landed proprietors of Austria, who stated through 
their mouthpiece, Count Clam-Martinic, on May 
20th, that they were "willing to uphold Count 
Berchtold to the limit, even if complications should 
arise which would lead directly to the World War." 
Emboldened by such language we wanted to hold 
the Prince of Wied on his throne at all costs, in 
order to prevent an international commission from 
getting hold of affairs in Albania. As we could 
not launch officially a call for volunteers the Gen- 
eral Staff entrusted the recruiting of the volunteers 
to two lieutenants of the reserve, one of them a 
sculptor by the name of Gurschner, and the other 
an architect by the name of Leopold Wirth, the 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 213 

latter of whom had taken part In the fighting at 
Durazzo. The appeal for volunteers was supplied 
to the press through a news agency which main- 
tained close relations with official circles. In two 
days several thousand men had volunteered, most 
of them reserve officers, doctors, and students who 
had already seen military service. It was stated 
at the time that the expenses of the expedition 
would be met out of "private funds." I cannot 
say whether the expenses of recruiting and equip- 
ment were paid by the War Ministry or out of the 
secret fund of two million kronen which Count 
Berchtold had received for his secret dispositions on 
November 28, 1913. Certain it is that not a single 
volunteer would have paid a cent out of his own 
pocket for that adventure. 

The first units left at once for Durazzo. The 
account of this hazardous trick of our diplomacy 
was most touchingly portrayed in the Ballplatz 
organs. The recruiting officer Wirth said on the 
26th of June — that is two days before the death 
of Francis Ferdinand — "In Durazzo my Austrian 
patriotism has come to a new life. There I have 
found again my Fatherland. . . . With the 
help of a thousand volunteers and more, the honour 
of Europe and the throne of the Prince can be 
saved." A Viennese professor of international law 
said that "the recruiting and sending of the expedi- 
tion to Albania was from the point of international 
law without objection." 



214 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

On the 27th of June this Austrian Don Quixote 
adventure had risen to such proportions that the 
recruiting officers were swamped with dispatches 
from Austria-Hungary, and especially from Ger- 
many. A manufacturer from Hanover offered 
to join the volunteer corps with a whole troop 
of his men. High aristocrats and officers from 
Berlin and Jena, as well as officers and non-com- 
missioned officers from all over Germany, offered 
their services. The comment of the Neue Freie 
Presse, representing the Semitic business interests 
which were especially hot for war against Serbia 
and Russia, was as follows: "These volunteers do 
not want to fight for a country which is so alien 
to their hearts and a nation for which they can 
have no sentiments, but they go to fight for the 
monarchy. They want to fight not for the Prince 
of Wied, in Durazzo, Albania, but for the Emperor 
of Austria in Vienna." 

Then the paper went on to say: "Two thousand 
men want to go to Albania but millions are sharing 
the idea which is compelling the volunteers to go 
to Durazzo to participate in the fighting on the 
side of the Prince. The popularity which the 
proposed march of volunteers to Albania has 
reached is proof of how strong the desire is to 
show before the world that Austria has much 
more vitality than our adversaries are willing to 
admit." 

While this comedy was being enacted in Vienna 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 215 

by Counts Berchtold, and Von Hoetzendorf, 
Archduke Francis Ferdinand was reviewing for 
the last time his army of manoeuvre of 100,000 
men in Bosnia, and was just preparing for the tri- 
umphal entry into the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo. 



CHAPTER XI 

Count Tisza Constructs a "Casus Belli" Out 
OF THE Archduke's Murder 

THE FINAL CONFERENCE BETWEEN THE ARCH~ 
PLOTTERS OF THE WORLD WAR — KAISER WILHELM, 
ARCHDUKE FRANCIS FERDINAND, AND GRAND AD- 
MIRAL VON TIRPITZ 

BEFORE reviewing the incidents surround- 
ing the Archduke's murder and how this 
act of a half -grown revolutionist was con- 
verted by the experienced hands of the Austro- 
Hungarian war-plotters into a casus belli, I must 
tell of the last meeting which the Archduke had 
with Kaiser Wilhelm at Castle Konopisht in 
Bohemia. The reader will remember that Kaiser 
and Archduke agreed at their first meeting at 
Castle Konopisht in October, 1913, to meet 
in the spring of 1914; and that instead, the meet- 
ing had taken place at the end of March, 1914, 
at Castle Miramar, the once favourite residence 
of the unfortunate Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico. 
The nearer we drew to the outbreak of the World 
War the more frequent became the meetings of 
these two leaders of the Teutonic war parties. 

216 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 217 

These interviews were always held under some 
flimsy disguise: of a hunting party for boars, deer, 
chamois, pigeons, pheasants, and so on. This 
time it was held under the lovely cloak of a *' review 
of roses" which were in the most wonderful bloom 
and fragrance in the Rosen Monat, i.e., June — 
the month of roses. Kaiser Wilhelm, it was said, 
had seen the castle of Konopisht in the fall, and 
wanted to see it in the full glory of its roses. Thus 
surrounded by beautiful roses these two relentless 
spirits reached decisions which soon were to make 
humanity bleed from a million wounds, and dye 
with crimson the fields of Europe. 

On June 12, 1914, the two "garden-friends," as 
they were termed by the press of the Ballplatz, 
met once more in the old historic castle situated 
in the heart of Bohemia, in the midst of a people 
who watched with misgivings the happenings 
in the castle. Among the men who came with 
Kaiser Wilhelm for this last meeting the most 
noted was Grand Admiral Von Tirpitz. This 
personage who came into such sinister prominence 
in the World War, as the originator of the U-Boat 
warfare, excited even in those days the most fear- 
ful forebodings, and the imagination of many a man 
in Austria saw behind the lovely flower beds and 
the festive reception halls the ominous spectre 
of war. Amid the fragrance of the flowers lurked 
the stench of war. As if by prearrangement the 
attention of the press was centred upon the person 



218 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

of Grand Admiral Von Tirpitz. The organs of 
Count Berchtold designated him as one of those 
"iron skulls which could even break through 
walls," and as "the indestructible, far-seeing, and 
keen personality that will surely find in its time a 
place in the German Valhalla." Oddly enough 
the public was also reminded that *'the presence 
of Grand Admiral Von Tirpitz at Konopisht recalls 
again the question which was never fully answered, 
to wit: What were the contents of the Treaty of 
Alliance between Austria and Germany?" The 
text of the treaty was made public property by the 
late Prince Bismarck, but the duties and rights in 
the treaty were never disclosed and the late Prince 
himself cynically remarked that this secret would 
never be revealed even after the treaty was no 
longer in force. 

The deliberations of Kaiser and Archduke were 
held in such profound secrecy that only the repre^ 
sentative of the Neues Wiener Tagehlatt was allowed 
to write, basing his statement on a "well-informed 
source," that "in spite of the intimate character of 
the meeting the conviction could not be dismissed 
that higlily important political questions and es- 
pecially the Austro-Hungarian naval policy would be 
discussed." There is little doubt, however, that the 
conspirators considered the whole Balkan situation. 

On the last day of the Kaiser's stay with the 
Archduke, Count Berchtold came to Konopisht 
to take part in the deliberations. The Archduke 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 219 

Francis Ferdinand hurried from the conference 
to Trieste to embark on the Austrian dreadnaught 
Viribus Unitis, which was to bring him to the 
shores of Dalmatia. The great Bosnian ma- 
noeuvres of the 15th and 16th Army Corps began 
according to schedule on the 25th of July and 
ended on the 27th. They were conducted under 
the leadership of Field Marshal Potiorek as army 
inspector of Sarajevo, the very man who was, ac- 
cording to the dispositions of the General Staff, 
to lead the Austrian army of invasion into Serbia. 
The coming of Francis Ferdinand to Bosnia was 
greeted, as a matter of necessity, by all papers, 
even by the radical Serbian opposition paper 
Srpska Rijec, politely and cordially. Only the 
Serbian radical paper, Narod, ignored the visit, 
and brought out instead an article commemorating 
the famous historical Serbian battle of Kossovo 
Field. Otherwise the visit of Francis Ferdinand 
to Bosnia was not marred by any discordant note 
on the side of the sorely tried Jugoslav people. 

How the Archduke and his consort met their 
death when on the 28th of June of 1914 they made 
their triumphal entry into the capital of the an- 
nexed provinces is well known. This incident 
was at once seized upon by the Ballplatz and our 
General Staff as the God-sent instrument by which 
they were finally to be able to realize what for 
six years, in spite of constant intrigues, they had 
failed to accomplish. 



220 THE INSroE STORY OF 

The value of the Archduke's assassination for 
the war party was twofold. First, it obliged both 
adherents and antagonists of the dynasty to ap- 
prove of every action taken to vindicate its honour; 
second, in an international sense, it gave to the 
harsh action of the Ballplatz a moral support which 
no other casus hdli could have received. It was 
realized that the Archduke's murder would arouse 
great sympathy in all the monarchical countries 
of Europe. 

These calculations later proved correct. The 
whole blame for the outbreak of the war was, there- 
fore, at first attributed to the Archduke's assassina- 
tion. This was the moment for Austria to act. 
It was only necessary to point to Belgrade, and to 
make a causal nexus between the Archduke's mur- 
der and the Serbian Government. The murder 
of a king is not an infrequent occurrence in mon- 
archical countries. Three murders had occurred 
around Emperor Francis Joseph himself. His 
brother Maximilian was executed in his over- 
seas empire; his son. Crown Prince Rudolph, was 
killed in a love affair; his wife. Empress Elizabeth, 
was stabbed by an Italian. 

What really happened after the death of the 
Archduke was this: The diplomats packed away 
their notes, the General Staff unpacked its war 
plans. The directions worked out for the begin- 
ning of the war, which were lying in the vaults of 
the various ministries, were at once applied, and 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 221 

everything developed from that moment according 
to schedule. 

Deprived of their patron saint, the war press 
organs of the extreme right began a deluge of in- 
vectives, insinuations, and accusations against 
Serbia and Russia. The Reichspost, mouthpiece 
of the Christian Socialists and of Francis Fer- 
dinand, demanded on the first of July that "the 
last unavoidable step be undertaken against 
this nation of assassins of royalty," at the same 
time announcing that "some sort of ultimatum 
from the Austrian Government will be sent to 
Serbia." The clerical journals of Germany de- 
clared with one voice that "Belgrade bears the 
responsibility for the plot"; conservative journals 
stated that "Germans must now make a definite 
stand against the Slavs." The Germania and 
KolniscJie Zeitung insisted upon the connivance 
of Serbia with the crime. All the papers knew in 
advance that diplomatic steps would be taken 
after consultation with the Chief of the General 
Staff, and the Minister of War. 

In Belgrade the first sentiment aroused by the 
murder at Sarajevo was one of simple human 
horror and pity. The Belgrade press condemned 
the bloody deed and expressed the deepest indigna- 
tion at this act of anarchistic folly. 

Taking advantage of the feeling aroused by the 
murder of the Archduke the authorities in Austria- 
Hungary began a ruthless persecution of our own 



222 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

Serbian subjects numbering several millions. This 
persecution subsequently grew in violence and 
with the official declaration of war was extended 
to the whole Slav south. Its dimensions and its 
horrors were even greater than were the crimes com- 
mitted by the Germans in their invasion of Belgium. 
On July 6th Archduke Frederick, who after the 
death of Francis Ferdinand became the leader of 
the Austrian war party and subsequently Com- 
mander in Chief of the Austrian army, had an 
audience with the Emperor, and on the following 
day a council of ministers was held in Vienna at 
which were present, in addition to the three joint 
Ministers for Foreign Affairs, War, and Finance, 
the Austrian and Hungarian Premier, Count 
Stuergkh and Count Tisza. Before the council 
was held, the Chief of the General Staff of the Army, 
Baron Conrad von Hoetzendorf, and the Naval 
Commander in Chief, Von Haus, conferred with the 
ministers. The same night Count Berchtold left 
for Ischl, the summer residence of the Emperor, to 
receive his sanction for the decisions of the confer- 
ence. According to an official communication 
the object of the council was to "discuss measures 
of internal administration for Bosnia and Herze- 
govina, in connection with which the Chief of the 
General Staff of the Army and the Naval Com- 
mander in Chief were consulted on certain *tech- 
nical points'." This was the official cloak under 
which the most momentous decisions in the his- 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 223 

tory of Europe were hidden. The conference was 
solely of a political character as neither the two 
Ministers of Finance nor the two Ministers of Com- 
merce were present. 

"All decisive factors are in accord," wrote Baron 
Chlumetzky, the confidant of the dead Archduke 
and the mouthpiece of the Foreign Ofiice, "that 
the Greater Serbia question must be decided once 
for all, if it is possible, by peaceful means; if not, 
by blood and iron." 

The two military chiefs were consulted on noth- 
ing more or less than the exact dates, when both 
army and navy would be ready to strike. Also 
the date for the ultimatum to be sent to Serbia 
was set for the 23d of the same month, and the 
28th of July was agreed upon as the day to start 
hostilities against Serbia: that is, exactly three 
weeks were asked for by the army and navy chiefs 
for their final preparations for war. Lastly, it was 
decided that the declaration of war against Russia 
would follow the declaration of war against Serbia 
within ten days. I will explain this delay later in 
speaking of the protestations that were made by 
both the Austrian and German governments 
against the Russian mobilization. The utmost 
secrecy was maintained concerning this conference. 
Only the Pester Lloyd, the organ of the Hun- 
garian Government, was permitted to give an ex- 
planation why "no allusion was made to the pro- 
jected diplomatic demarche at Belgrade, for the 



224 THE INSIDE STORY OP 

purpose of drawing the attention of the Serbian 
Government to the trails, which according to the 
Sarajevo investigations, lead directly to Belgrade," 
by saying that the *' matter is not yet sufficiently 
ripe to be submitted to the glare of publicity." 
"The Serbian Government," the paper said, "will 
be shown to be a nest of pestilential rats which 
came from their territory over our border to spread 
death and destruction. If the Serbian Govern- 
ment shows readiness to exterminate this nest of 
rats it will have furnished proof of its upright 
sentiments, and again make good its title to neigh- 
bourly correctness, which, of late, has been disput- 
able." 

At the Vienna Conference Count Tisza took upon 
himself the task of making capital out of the assas- 
sination of the Archduke. He acquitted himself 
in a masterly fashion. While ceaselessly attacking 
Serbia through the press, and casting aspersions 
on Russia, he remained silent when asked to de- 
clare himself officially in regard to Serbia's guilt. 
On the day after the Vienna Conference Count 
Andrassy put several questions to Prime Minister 
Tisza. He asked: "How could the Government, in 
face of the well-known critical situation in Bosnia, 
plan the visit of the heir to the throne, on the 
Serbian national holiday, when such a visit would 
be interpreted by the Serbs as a provocation? 
Having risked the dangers inherent in such a visit, 
why did not the Government take proper measures 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 225 

to safeguard the Archduke? What excuse had the 
Government for allowing the heir to the throne 
to continue on his way after the first attempt on 
his life?" Count Tisza's reply was marked by 
studied reserve. *'The Archduke," he said, "stood 
under nobody's guardianship or control. He had 
regarded his Bosnian journey purely as a military 
inspection, and the Austrian and Hungarian govern- 
ments received no preliminary notice of it, nor did 
the joint Minister of Finance receive any informa- 
tion as to the details of the programme." To the 
question as to possible diplomatic steps in Serbia 
Tisza replied that he could give only a quite general 
answer. 

This was the role Tisza had to play. Had there 
been the slightest proof of the complicity of the 
Serbian Government or of Serbian subjects in the 
crime Tisza was not the man to hold back such 
proofs. It was through official silence that Tisza 
constructed a casus belli, departing entirely from 
the method followed hitherto by the Ballplatz — • 
the making of countless accusations which finally 
could not be sustained. 

On July 14th Tisza came to Vienna to confer, 
first with Count Berchtold, then with Count 
Forgach. It was at this visit between Tisza and 
Forgach that the ultimatum to Serbia received 
its final form. I know this from my conversations 
with Count Forgach. 

A second attempt was made on July 15th 



226 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

to force Tisza to declare himself. In the Lower 
House of the Hungarian Parliament, replying to an 
interpellation by M. Szmrecsanyi, Count Tisza 
said regarding Serbia's connection with the Sarajevo 
murders, that "Austria-Hungary's relations with 
Serbia must be made clear. War is a sad argu- 
ment. The question has been raised whether the 
present uncertainty must not inevitably be de- 
cided by war, and I must say that a state which 
does not consider war as the ultima ratio can not 
call itself a state." 

When Count Berchtold reported to the Emperor 
at Ischl the results of the fateful Council of Min- 
isters, no oflBcial communique was made public as 
to the cause of the audience. The Neues Wiener 
Tagehlatt, which had relations with the Foreign 
Office, stated, however, that "no diplomatic step 
which may be made at Belgrade will imply any 
interference with the sovereign rights of the Serbian 
state, nor will anything be exacted which could be 
interpreted as an affront or as a humiliation." 
This statement was made to appease somewhat 
the feverish excitement in the monarchy. Fur- 
thermore, to deceive Europe, the same skilful 
manoeuvre was tried in Austria as was resorted 
to in Germany. All the war chiefs were sent on 
leave of absence including Baron Conrad von 
Hoetzendorf , the Chief of the General Staff of tlie 
Army; Herr Krobatin,the joint Minister of War, 
and both the Austrian and Hungarian Ministers 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 227 

of National Defence. But those who were closely 
watching the situation in Austria-Hungary were 
not deceived by these manoeuvres. The real gravity 
of the situation could not be concealed. 

On the 21st of July, that is two days before we 
presented the ultimatum to Serbia, the mobiliza- 
tion of officers of the reserve was started. On 
the same day Baron Giesl reported to Count Berch- 
told, from Belgrade, that "a reckoning with Serbia, 
a war for the position of the monarchy as a great 
power, even for its existence as such, can not be 
permanently avoided. If we delay in clearing 
up our relations with Serbia, we should share the 
responsibilities for the difficulties and the unfavour- 
able situation in any future war which must sooner 
or later be carried through." The baron at the 
same time warned the Minister of Foreign Affairs 
against half-measures, long discussions, or com- 
promises. 

A third and last attempt was made in Budapest 
on July 22d, the day before the ultimatum to 
Serbia was delivered, to make Count Tisza lift 
the veil surrounding the conference of July 7th. 
Contrary to expectations Tisza did not answer 
these new interpellations of Count Andrassy on the 
Austro-Serbian situation. "I am unable," Tisza 
said, "for the time being to reply to you — I do 
not consider it in the interests of the country that 
the matter should be ventilated at this moment 
nor am I in a position to impart information." 



228 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

The following day, July 23d, the fatal ultimatum 
was sent to Belgrade. The contents of this docu- 
ment are too well known to call for comment here. 
On the day following the presentation of this 
ultimatum, Tisza, for the first time, broke his 
silence. Before the Hungarian Parliament he 
said: "In the conviction that our cause is just 
and that the vital interests of the monarchy and 
of the Hungarian Crown demand it, we will bear 
all the consequences of this step." Then Count 
Andrassy rose and made the following declaration : 
*'In spite of the great differences which separate 
us from the Government, we will do our patriotic 
duty in every respect." Tisza on his side thanked 
Count Andrassy "for his great services" by saying: 
"I never expected anything else from him." With 
this statement the comedy was closed. On hear- 
ing Tisza and Andrassy exchange these words all 
the deputies arose and with wild applause and cries 
of "Hail, Hail," the sinister performance came to 
an end. 

Keeping in mind the above facts, the reader will 
be able to understand the cynical farce which the 
Ballplatz diplomats played between that day and 
the declaration of war against Serbia on July 28th 
and against Russia on August 6th. The days 
between July 23d and August 5th have been 
declared the thirteen critical days of the World 
War, meaning that the outbreak of the war 
was an imminent danger but still avoidable by 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 229 

the application of the proper diplomatic means. 
In reality, those critical days never existed as far as 
Austria-Hungary and Germany were concerned. 
This is clearly shown by my own conversation with 
Count Forgach of July 27th. 



CHAPTER XII 

The Military Chiefs Assume Complete Con- 
trol OF Austro-German Foreign Affairs 

COUNT FORGACH's CONFESSION EXPLODES THEORY 
OF SO-CALLED "CRITICAL DAYS" OF WORLD WAR 

IT WAS on the eve of the outbreak of the war 
that I arrived in Vienna, having left San Fran- 
cisco, my last post, in the beginning of April, 
1914. From the facts which I disclose in Chapter 
XIV in regard to the mobilization of an army of 
half a million Austrians in the United States of 
America I knew that war was coming, and was 
firmly determined to resign my position in case 
of Austria's declaration of war against Serbia and 
Russia. 

In August, 1913, I was asked in San Francisco 
what I thought of the general political situation 
in Europe after the close of the second Balkan war. 
**Now will come," I said, "the great World War." 
"Why do you judge that the great World War is in 
sight?" I was asked. I replied: "I am certain 
of the coming of the World War from the oflScial 
knowledge I have of the preparations for it. It 
will take only a cablegram with one word to put 

230 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 231 

everything in motion as far as the minute prepara- 
tions in America are concerned. An army of half 
a miUion men will be on the eastern coast inside of 
fourteen days to be transported to Europe, provided 
that England remains neutral, and it is expected in 
Austria-Hungary and Germany that she will do so." 

On leaving America, in April, 1914, to spend a 
six-months' vacation in the country of my birth, I 
went by way of Japan and Russia to gauge the 
feeling there in regard to the general political situa- 
tion of Europe. In Tokio I received very im- 
portant hints from Major Putz, of the Austro- 
Hungarian General Staff — our military attache in 
Japan. He told me that both Austria-Hungary and 
Germany were making frantic endeavours to get 
Japan on their side, but that unfortunately the 
friendship of Japan for Russia was at the time a 
great obstacle to their designs. 

On arriving at Mukden, Manchuria, I visited 
the German Consul of that locality, Hugo Witte 
by name. In conversation with him I said: *'You 
told me that the political situation in the Far East 
is the best barometer for judging the situation in 
Europe. Will the great European war, according 
to your opinion, really come in the near future.'*" 
His reply was as follows: "As sure as death. You 
Austrians will soon get a new emperor who will 
be ready to do everything and who will strike at the 
next opportunity at Serbia and Russia. In short, 
a man who will not let himself be put off by any 



232 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

considerations from precipitating the war which 
is essential to Austria-Hungary's ultimate peace 
and security." "Why should Germany," I said, 
"proceed aggressively against Russia?" "For 
the simple reason," Mr. Witte replied, *' that Russia 
has immense, undeveloped, and uncultivated terri- 
tories in her empire. These territories must be 
opened up to human activity. Russia threatens 
the whole world. We must finally procure for our- 
selves peace, and that for all time. The con- 
tinuous unrest and war danger, in peace time, must 
finally come to an end. Pan-Slavism must be 
destroyed for ever. Russia must be partitioned 
among Austria-Hungary, Germany, Sweden, 
Rumania, Turkey, and Japan. The situation has 
become intolerable for us. The last hour has 
struck. We must give Russia such a blow that we 
may take away from her not only the Baltic prov- 
inces but also Petrograd, and make Finland inde- 
pendent or give it to Sweden. Austria-Hungary 
must get Little Russia with Kieff; Rumania must 
get Bessarabia; Turkey must get the Caucasus, 
and Great Britain must grasp the opportunity of 
finally assuring herself the possession of Thibet. 
As allies we shall have Austria-Hungary, Sweden, 
Rumania, Bulgaria, and Greece (to which latter 
country we will give a part of Macedonia). 
Persia, Afghanistan, and Japan must invade 
Siberia. We reckon with absolute certainty on 
a revolution in Poland, Little Russia, Finland, 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 233 

the Caucasus, and other parts of Russia. We want 
to keep open the great commercial and miHtary 
Transsiberian road for ourselves in order to be able 
to protect Tsingtau in case it should come to 
a partition of China. We count with absolute 
certainty on victory because Great Britain will 
certainly remain neutral. Against France we will 
sacrifice more than a million men and will strike at 
a certain weak line in her defences. This weak 
line is Belgium. In this way we shall break into 
France. The Russians, on the contrary, we will 
allow to come as close as possible and will give them 
free access near the fortress of Thorn. We will 
then surround and completely annihilate them. 
We will destroy Russia and will ask at the Peace 
Conference such economic advantages as will make 
our situation secure for all time. Then we shall 
finally have peace in the East and we will be free 
from this eternal menace of war on the side of 
Russia. Thus Pan-Slavism will be crushed for 
ever." 

This conversation I had with Consul Witte in 
the early part of May, 1914, and I took great care to 
record it exactly word for word. To a Spanish 
colleague with whom I travelled through the Far 
East I said at that time, in acquainting him with 
the conversation I had had, that according to all 
appearances war would break out sooner than was 
expected. As far as the German Consul's ref- 
erence to Tsingtau was concerned, I must mention 



234 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

that as early as the winter of 1913-14 the great 
project of a German railroad stretching from Con- 
stantinople to Kiao Chau was advocated by Ger- 
mans, first by a certain Herr Landrichter Romburg, 
and then by Herr Henning who was of the opinion 
that the most propitious moment had arrived for 
a firm economic policy in China which would make 
of Tsingtau the great world harbour of the future 
in the Far East. 

In Vladivostok I called upon Dr. G. Stobbe, the 
German Consul of that locality, with whom I left 
the city, he going to his home and I proceeding by 
train to Chabarovsk. The conversation I had on 
the train with him confirmed in all essentials what 
I had heard in Tokio and Mukden. Among other 
things he said: "You see over there the point where 
the three empires, China, Korea, and Russia, meet. 
It is from that corner that the blow will be struck 
and the advancing Japanese will cut off the fortress 
of Vladivostok. These fools, the Russians, are 
spending hundreds of millions of roubles to hold 
Vladivostok, and do not know that it will soon be 
taken away from them and that they will thus lose 
the last port they have in the East. The alliance 
of Japan and Germany is a certainty. In the war 
between Germany and Russia we will let Japan take 
Siberia up to Lake Baikal." 

Full of heavy forebodings I travelled on, never- 
theless hoping against hope that the disaster 
of war would be averted. When in Askabad 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 235 

under the scorching sun of Russian Central Asia 
I heard for the first time that Archduke Francis 
Ferdinand had been assassinated. I hurried home, 
visiting on my journey my colleagues in Tiflis 
in Trans-Caucasia, also in Moscow and Petro- 
grad, everywhere seeing ominous signs of the 
coming war. When on July 26th I arrived at 
Warsaw I was more than startled by what I saw 
there in the office of our Consul General. This was 
one of the greatest consulates that Austria-Hungary 
had before the war. The whole Consulate was like 
a beehive, although the day was Sunday. It did 
not take me long to find out that the general 
mobilization of the Austro-Hungarian armies was 
in full swing. On visiting the Consul General, 
Baron Werburg, who was at the same time First 
Secretary of our Embassy in Petrograd, I had a 
most interesting conversation with him in regard 
to the coming war. He told me in so many words : 
" War is inevitable. The mobilization is well under 
way." "You don't mean to start war against 
Russia," I said to him. "Of course we will," he 
said. "Russia is not prepared this time and is 
completely at our mercy." "You are greatly mis- 
taken," I told him; "I have travelled more than 
four months all over Russia and I am absolutely 
convinced that in starting war with Russia we will 
bring the greatest disaster upon our country and 
upon Europe in general, because Russia will defend 
herself to the last man. She has plenty of fighting 



236 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

material, is comparatively well equipped, and has 
excellent roads although they are not numerous." 
*'You don't understand me," Baron Werburg 
said, " it is not by military force alone that we will 
overwhelm Russia, but by other more potent 
factors, and that is internal revolution." "In my 
opinion," I said, "this is the most elusive hope 
that we can have in an engagement with Russia. 
The Russian Poles will not revolt if it comes to 
war." *'I am absolutely certain," Baron Werburg 
replied, "of revolution in Poland as well as in the 
Ukraine and other parts of Russia." 

This gave me food for thought, and leaving him 
to his revolutionary activities I tried to ascertain 
among the officials how things really stood in re- 
gard to the revolution which was in preparation. 
I was told by one of the secretaries whose name I 
cannot divulge that for years revolutionary propa- 
ganda had been carried on by the Consul General 
in Warsaw. The same was done by our repre- 
sentatives in Kieff, Odessa, and other places, as I 
ascertained later in Vienna. Before leaving War- 
saw I was asked by Baron Werburg to act as a 
courier for him, in order to avoid sending a special 
messenger to Vienna. I consented to do so, and 
highly important documents relating to the war 
were subsequently entrusted to my keeping. Had 
I wanted to betray Austria I could easily have done 
it then and very important material would have 
fallen into the hands of the Russian Government. 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 237 

From Warsaw I went to Granica and crossed in- 
to Austrian territory. I found the morning papers 
there with big headHnes: "Revolution all over Rus- 
sia!" — "The Czar of Russia murdered! " I found 
later that this report was intentionally circulated 
by the already familiar Literary or Press Bureau of 
our Foreign Ministry. This news had gone the 
rounds of the whole German press. *'The wish was 
father to the thought." 

On arriving in Vienna I at once proceeded to the 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs to deliver my secret 
dispatches to the Political Department. Then I 
went to see Count Forgach, the Under Secretary 
for Foreign Affairs with whom the reader is fa- 
miliar. Count Berchtold, the minister, was absent 
that day from the city, having gone to consult the 
Emperor in Ischl. It was Forgach, who in the 
absence of the minister, acted as his representative. 
When I was announced to Count Forgach, I was 
asked to wait because he was in conference with 
the French Ambassador, M. Dumaine. The con- 
versation of the French Ambassador with Count 
Forgach lasted some time and it was not until 
half-past six in the evening that I was received. 
The count greeted me very cordially. During the 
troubled period in Belgrade at the time of the 
annexation crisis he had, in spite of our violent 
differences of opinion, shown marked consideration 
toward me. He was personally one of the most 
likable diplomats that I have ever known. Having 



238 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

inherited from his Jewish mother the best quaHties 
of the Jewish race, he was keen and ambitious and 
one of the most capable of men. There is no doubt 
that he would have become Minister of Foreign 
Affairs of the empire had not his ambition carried 
him too far and had he not associated himself with 
Count Tisza. Soon after the latter became Premier 
of Hungary in June, 1913, he brought Count Forgach 
from his diplomatic exile at Dresden to the Min- 
istry of Foreign Affairs at Vienna in place of Count 
Szapary, who was sent as Ambassador to Petrograd. 
These diplomatic changes took place in the month 
of September, 1913. 

After having exchanged the usual phrases of 
greeting I at once turned the conversation to the 
topic of war. *'Do you know, Count," I said, 
"that our note to Serbia has made an immense im- 
pression in Russia? The people are greatly stirred 
by the sharpness of its tone and it is regarded as 
one of the most provocative acts which our diplo- 
macy has done in the long, troubled period since 
the annexation times. I am afraid," I added, "that 
it will lead to grave consequences." "Wliy, there 
is nothing in it," answered Count Forgach, "that 
could be interpreted as an aggression against 
Serbia or Russia. We merely ask what is right." 
"It is not only in Russia," I said, "that the note 
has made a profound impression. I had occasion 
to hear, and to convince myself from the news- 
papers, that the note has been received throughout 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 239 

Europe, especially in France, Great Britain, and 
Italy, with general disapproval. I heard in the 
Ministry that it was Count Tisza who had com- 
posed the note. Knowing you as I do, I never 
doubted from the very beginning that the note had 
not been composed by you. Count." "Well," 
said the count, "but I was one of the signers of the 
note [Ich hahe die Note mitunterschrieben]y there- 
fore I fully approve of its contents." 

I was then closely questioned by Count Forgach 
on the conditions I had found in Russia during my 
travels there. I told him all I knew about the 
splendid human material the Russian army and 
navy had; about the excellent equipment that I 
had seen in several parts of Russia, and many other 
things that would weigh heavily in the scales if it 
came to a war with that country. I also said that 
all our calculations might prove wrong in the end 
when it came to the supreme test on the battle-field, 
and that the reports of our representatives in 
Russia about the unpreparedness of Russia for 
war were all too optimistically believed. I pointed 
especially to the Russian railroads which were in 
good condition although perhaps not sufficient to 
carry out quickly the great requirements under 
stress of a rapid mobilization. I said all this to im- 
press Count Forgach and to try at the last moment 
to convert him to a more conciliatory attitude 
toward the great issues that were arising. 

Although I knew the determination of the Count 



240 THE INSIDE STOR\ OF 

in the matter of war and peace and that his opinion 
had long been made up, I nevertheless tried to do all 
that was possible to impress upon him the great re- 
sponsibility he and his colleagues would assume in 
precipitating a great European war. "Russia," 
I said, "will never permit Serbia to be crushed." 
"What has Russia to do," Count Forgach retorted, 
"with our dealings with Serbia?" "I will not 
argue that point," I said. "It is not a matter of 
opinion solely, but I am certain that Russia is 
determined to go to the limit, where her life in- 
terests are at stake as they are in the Balkans. 
Russia must of necessity guard her political and 
economic interests there. If she loses free access 
to the Mediterranean her entire commercial life 
and industry will come to a standstill. In Samara 
on the Volga," I said, "I spoke to a prominent 
industrialist and great land-owner from Orenburg. 
He told me that the war with Japan did not in- 
terest Russia as such, but that it would be very 
different if Austria-Hungary and Germany should 
attack her. 'That,' he said, Vill be a life-and- 
death struggle for Russia, and we are willing to 
sacrifice our lives and our fortunes on the altar of 
our mother country.' From a different angle I 
heard the same story from a teacher in one of the 
Cossack stanitzas on the Amur River in the Russian 
Far East. Speaking with him on the political 
situation of Europe he said: 'We Russians will 
never allow the Balkan Slavs to be crushed. We 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 241 

feel one with them and with the Slavs of Austria- 
Hungary.' Such is the spirit all over Russia." 
Realizing the gravity of the hour I implored 
Count Forgach: "Do everything in your power 
to avoid war with Russia. It will be the most 
terrible war the world has ever seen. Do every- 
thing in your power. Count, to continue with 
Russia the peaceful diplomatic conversations. To 
that end, engage the good services of France. 
,M. Dumaine has just had a long conversation 
with you. Through him you can exercise a decid- 
ing influence upon Russia." 

As a last resort I said: "The Slavs of Austria- 
Hungary will regard the war with Russia and 
Serbia as a fratricidal war, whatever our statesmen 
may say to the contrary. The revolution in 
Russia, on which we are basing such great hopes, 
is a chimera. In Granica I drew the attention 
of a Pole from Russian Poland, who travelled 
with me, to the headlines in the newspapers 
which clearly portrayed our wish to see a revolu- 
tion started in Poland. He was greatly amused 
at our ingenuousness. *The interests of theRussian 
Poles,' he said, *are with Russia, politically and 
economically, and not with Prussia." 

I was surprised at my own boldness in pre- 
senting all the various arguments against war, 
some of which were of a very dangerous nature to 
mention before a high Austrian official. But I was 
so appalled by the frightful menace of the im- 



242 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

pending calamity that I paid no attention to my 
personal security. Besides, Count Forgach knew 
me very well. I had had a similar conversation 
with him in the crisis of 1908-09. I concluded 
with the plea: *'I beg you once again, Count, to 
do everything in your power to avoid the World 
War." To which appeal he replied: "Diplomacy 
can do nothing more, everything is already in the 
hands of the military." With these words he 
shook my hand and I left him hurriedly to go in 
search of my numerous Slav friends in Vienna. 

For a long time I wandered, lost in thought, 
through the crooked old streets of that fascinating, 
gay, careless capital, that soon — ^I realized it only 
too keenly — must pass through the terrible ordeal 
of fire. One thing was clear to me and that was 
that war was inevitable. "Diplomacy can do 
nothing more; everything is in the hands of the 
military." I knew Count Forgach too well not 
to realize what a terrible meaning these words of 
his had. I remembered distinctly how he, as 
Austro-Hungarian Minister in Belgrade in the 
days of the annexation crisis, waited patiently 
long days and nights to deliver the ominous ulti- 
matum to the Serbian Government; how, finally, 
he lost in the diplomatic game he was playing; 
how he was transferred, or rather banished, 
to the unimportant court of a German vassal 
potentate; how finally the war party had rescued 
him from there and brought him to the Ballplatz 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE S43 

where the great war plans were made. His day 
of revenge had come. 

Reahzing that nothing would deter these terrible 
men from carrying out their plans, I resolved to 
stay in the capital to see how the great events 
shaped themselves. My first interest centred 
around the problem as to how the Ballplatz would 
extricate itself from the extremely delicate position 
in which it was put by Sir Edward Grey who at the 
beginning of the conflict proposed that "the am- 
bassadors of Germany, Italy, and France should 
meet under my presidency in London," thus virtu- 
ally reviving the London Conference of Ambas- 
sadors which at the time of the Balkan Wars had 
proved such a reliable instrument to hold in check 
the war mania of Austria. 

Our war party dreaded nothing so much as a 
conference of ambassadors or indeed any in- 
fluential international conference. It would again 
spoil their game. I learned that Germany had, 
the day before, that is on the 27th, declined to 
participate in the London conference *' because 
she would not place Austria before a European 
tribunal." Count Berchtold came out on the 
28th of July, as I learned later, with the state- 
ment that Austria-Hungary could neither re- 
cede from her demands nor enter into any dis- 
cussions about the terms of the Austro-Hungarian 
note. This was exactly in line with the views 
stated by Count Forgach the previous day. The 



244 AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 

events that quickly followed each other that fate- 
ful day did not surprise me. First, the declaration 
of war against Serbia; second, the answer of Count 
Berchtold to Grey's conference proposal, namely, 
that that proposal was nullified by the state of 
war which already existed. 

On the day of Austria's declaration of war against 
Serbia mob demonstrations took place in Vienna 
before the Hofburg, the Ballplatz, and the Ministry 
of War, the demonstrators crying at the top of 
their voices: "Down with Russia!" "Down with 
Serbia ! " " Long live the War ! " 

The Socialist paper, Vorwaerts, of Berlin, on 
July 28th, in an article entitled "War or Peace," 
said': "Czarism is not this moment the worst 
war danger, but the ill-informed Austria which 
lives under the insane illusion that it needs only 
to give the signal, and the whole of Europe will 
sound the bugle to bring the flower of its youth as a 
holocaust for the assassination of its heir to the 
throne." 

The die was cast. The fatal step, which was 
to plunge the world into the most terrible catas- 
trophe of history, had been taken. Thus after six 
years of intrigue did the Austrian and German 
diplomats and military leaders realize their aims. 



CHAPTER XIII 

Russian Mobilization as the Cause of the 

War 

a glimpse behind the scenes in berlin dur- 
ing the first three months of the war 

THE Austro-Hungarian war party had 
finally reaped its triumph. Our armies 
were storming the gates of Serbia and our 
militarists hoped to lay Serbia, on the 18th of 
August, the name-day of the Emperor, as a gift 
before the throne of old Francis Joseph; and then 
proceed with all their forces to the conquest of 
Great Russia. "We will throw Russia behind the 
Volga; nay, we will chase the Russians behind the 
Ural Mountains; back into the steppes of Asia." 
So I was told by an imperial Court ofiicial when 
talking with him while watching the mobilization 
in the spacious court of the Emperor's stables. 
"Will Russia attack us," I asked, "or will we at- 
tack Russia?" "We will find a pretext for war 
with Russia," said the ofiicial, "sooner than any- 
body thinks. Besides, we expect that Russia will 
attack us on account of our invasion of Serbia; 
and Russia's move will automatically bring Ger- 

U5 



246 THE mSlDE STORY OF 

many into the war." "Does this last follow," I 
asked further, "from our treaty of alliance with 
Germany? We have not been attacked by Serbia 
and I thought that the Treaty of Alliance was purely 
a defensive one." "You remember the great 
debate last year between the Socialist and Cen- 
trist parties in the German Reichstag," the Court 
official said, "when Prince Loewenstein accused 
Herr Ledebour and his political friends of trying 
to prevent Germany from making war by foment- 
ting internal revolution?" 

"'The obligation to help Austria,' Prince Loew- 
enstein then said, 'arises if Austria is attacked 
by any third power; Austria on her side would 
certainly help Germany if — assuming the fantastic 
case — we should attack Denmark, and should be 
for this attacked by France and Russia.' Applying 
the above formula to our attack on Serbia, it 
follows that Germany will join us, that is to say, 
our attack on Serbia will automatically provide 
Germany the casus fcederis.'' 

But even at this I was extremely curious to see 
how Germany would find a plausible pretext for 
war against Russia, if Austria was attacked by 
Russia alone. I very soon learned how the German 
war party created such a pretext in the Russian 
mobilization. Problems of time and distance 
seriously influenced Russia's mobilization. Her 
far-flung garrisons in the Caucasus, Central Asia, 
and Siberia weakened the strength of her army. 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 247 

In the Bosnian crisis of 1908-09 Russia received a 
very unpleasant reminder of the danger of unpre- 
paredness for war. At that time 800,000 German 
troops could have been thrown upon the Vistula 
at the very outbreak of the war, while 400,000 Aus- 
tro-Hungarian troops could have been thrown 
against Warsaw and Brest-Li tovsk from the south, 
thus cutting off the Russian armies in Poland. The 
operation would have been successful, because 
Russia would have been unable to oppose this 
force with more than a couple of army corps within 
a week's time. The rest of her army, of which 
800,000 men might have been aligned against 
Germany and 400,000 against Austria, could not 
have been ready under three weeks, and could not 
have taken the field under a month. This in 
spite of the fact that Russia had on a peace footing 
at that time an army of approximately 1,200,000 
men. 

In the crisis of 1912 and 1913 Russia's position 
was better, because, seeing Austria-Hungary mo- 
bilized, on the Serbian as well as on the Russian 
frontiers, Russia retained a year's class under the 
colours instead of sending them home as reservists. 
Hence our wailings at that time regarding the 
Russian mobilization, and finally the sending of 
Prince Hohenlohe with an autograph letter of the 
Emperor to Czar Nicholas to beg him to send the 
surplus troops home. Profiting by this experience, 
our General Staff wanted this time to baffle Russia; 



248 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

to hold up her mobihzation; to gain time to mobilize 
our whole army under the guise of a "partial" mo- 
bilization, and be ready for the invasion of Russia 
before the latter had time to mobilize. According 
to the Austro-German plans for the war against 
Russia and France Germany was to throw herself 
first on France, while the whole brunt of the fight- 
ing on the eastern front would be born by Austria- 
Hungary. "Mobilization means war" was there- 
fore the cry of German diplomacy, when Russia 
followed our example and ordered the mobilization 
of her southern military districts on the 29th of 
July, that is the very day following our mobilization 
of ten army corps. Austria-Hungary ordered a 
general mobilization at one o'clock on the morning 
of July 31st. In order not to be placed at a strate- 
gical disadvantage Russia once more followed 
suit and ordered the general mobilization of her 
armies about 1 1 o'clock in the forenoon of the same 
day, expressly declaring, however, that she did 
it as a measure of security, "being always ready 
to submit to the Hague Tribunal, or the mediation 
of the Powers as proposed by Sir Edward Grey." 
Russia, moreover, emphatically denied that "mo- 
bilization means war"; in fact, in her past troubles 
with Austria both Austria-Hungary and Russia 
had mobilized and their troops had stood for long 
months guarding the frontiers without war as a 
consequence. The German Government, however, 
seized upon the Russian mobilization as the most 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 249 

plausible available justification for the predeter- 
mined war. Russia's mobilization, if not delayed 
sufficiently, meant the overthrow of all the German 
plans of campaign and the possible loss of the war. 
The course of the World War proved these fears to 
have been well founded. It was Russia's unexpect- 
edly rapid mobilization and her thrust into East 
Prussia that made the German armies pause be- 
fore the Marne, and withdraw at least two army 
corps to throw them against the invading Russians. 
This gave, for the moment, to the French, British, 
and Belgian armies a numerical superiority, and 
saved Paris. 

This was the Kaiser's reason for crying at the 
top of his voice to Russia: "Mobilization means 
war!" He thus repeated Napoleon's strategy. 
Count Segur, in his history of Napoleon's campaign 
of 1812 against Russia, says that Napoleon made 
complaints on the 25th of April, 1812, among others, 
against Russia's armaments, as a menace to the 
safety of his empire. Czar Alexander I, through 
his Ambassador, Prince Kourokin, vainly protested 
to Napoleon his pacific intentions. Napoleon 
interrupted the Czar's envoy: "No, your master 
desires war; I know through my generals that the 
Russian army is hurrying toward the Niemen." 
But there were two more reasons for wishing to 
represent the Russian mobilization as meaning 
war. First, in Austria-Hungary mobilization was 
slower and the distance to be traversed longer, 



250 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

by at least ten days, than in Germany. To re- 
strain Russia from attacking Austria, the weaker 
ally, the German diplomats tried to deceive 
Russia, and keep her undecided in the first critical 
weeks while Austria was operating against Serbia. 
This explains also why Austria actually declared 
war against Russia almost ten days later than she 
did against Serbia; the dates being respectively 
July 28 and August 6, 1914. I have stated in a 
previous chapter that when I arrived at Warsaw 
on the 26th of July I found the mobilization of our 
nationals in full swing at the Consulate General, 
for the whole district of that consulate. That 
was two days before the official order for the partial 
mobilization in Vienna was issued. In Austria- 
Hungary itself the mobilization of the officers 
of the reserve began two days before the presenta- 
tion of the ultimatum. As far as Germany is con- 
cerned, I learned from a Prussian army contractor 
in Berlin that on July 25, 1914, artillery was sent 
from Breslau, German Silesia, to East Prussia. 

The second reason for the Kaiser declaring 
"Mobilization means war," was, militarily, even 
more significant. In our plans for the conquest 
of Russia we imitated Napoleon's plan for the 
invasion of Russia. Napoleon did not consider 
a mere frontal attack as prudent, or, as being most 
effective, for bringing Russia to her knees. The 
outflanking movements in the rear of the Niemen 
and Vistula armies were considered by both con- 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 251 

querors as of vital importance for a quick and de- 
cisive result. But we did not content ourselves 
with one outflanking movement, as did Napoleon. 
The Austro-German General StafiFs conceived the 
plan of one frontal invasion and one principal, 
with two, or rather three, minor flanking invasions 
in the rear of the Russian armies. This was 
arranged to create in several parts of the Russian 
Empire such conditions that the mobilization in 
most of her military districts would be disorganized 
or that the mobilized troops would be needed else- 
where, that is away from the German main line 
of attack. This should have served, in the first 
place, for the invasion of Russia by Sweden and 
Rumania. If the above plans had matured, as 
arranged by the German Kaiser, not only the mili- 
tary districts of Warsaw and Vilna, but also those 
of Petrograd, Kieff, and Odessa, would have been 
.badly disorganized and Russia would have been 
/prevented from concentrating an army sufficiently 
large to take the offensive in the great Vistula 
triangle. To paralyze Russia's mobilization in 
other districts — or to attract mobilized troops to 
other and far-off battle-fields — invasions of the 
Caucasus by Turkey and of Central Asia by Persia 
and Afghanistan were planned. This formidable 
menace of flanking invasions on her most exposed 
frontiers would have disturbed the mobilization 
also in the military districts of Stavropol and Tiflis, 
both in the Caucasus, as also in the military dis- 



252 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

tricts of Central Asia and western Siberia. Thus 
the districts of Moscow and Khazan only would 
have remained undisturbed. That the Kaiser's 
great scheme of simultaneous enveloping, flanking, 
and rear attacks on Russia came to naught is due 
solely to the decision of Russia to mobilize at the 
first signal of the Austrian mobilization. 

I stayed for a few days in the excitement of 
Vienna, after our declaration of war against Serbia 
and the declaration of war by Germany against 
Russia, when suddenly I remembered that I had 
come fifteen thousand miles to visit my people 
at home. I therefore left Vienna to go to my home 
in southern Styria. Arriving there I found the 
simple mountaineers so bewildered and frightened 
by the orders for mobilization that they scarcely 
noticed my home-coming. My stay was brief 
as a telegram arrived from Vienna signed by Count 
Berchtold himself ordering me to proceed at once 
to Berlin for temporary duty there and on my way 
there to call at the Ministry. Upon my arrival 
at Vienna I was informed that I must not express 
my views. I also learned that I was watched by 
spies. I had evidently spoken too freely. In 
Vienna reports were circulated that Russian airmen 
had bombed the railroad from Cracow to Vienna; 
furthermore, that a hundred million francs in gold 
were en route from France to Russia through 
Germany and Austria in a hundred automobiles, 
and that everybody must be on the lookout for 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 253 

these automobiles. The first report of "the bomb- 
ing" of the raihoad was, of course, an invention 
of the famihar type, fabricated by the "Literary" 
Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It 
was in Hne with the similar news circulated in 
Germany that French airmen had opened hostilities 
against Germany before the declaration of war by 
bombing Nlirnberg and two other German cities 
and that they were violating the neutrality of 
Belgium by flying over that country. Our Foreign 
Office also circulated reports that Russia had 
opened hostilities against Austria-Hungary without 
a declaration of war just as it was reported that 
France had done against Germany. In regard 
to the shipment of a hundred million francs in 
gold to Russia it was a crude hoax on the part of 
our military authorities but it served a very prac- 
tical purpose, as people everywhere watched the 
roads and searched automobiles for spies, etc. 

From the telegram received from Count Berch- 
told, I knew that I must be in bad odour in Vienna. 
Arriving there I called first on Baron Sonnleithner 
my departmental chief. 

"Wliy did you not call on me before .f^" the 
Baron asked me, angrily. "You were on leave 
of absence," I replied. "Where have you been all 
this time.f^" the Baron then demanded. "In 
Russia," I replied. Then, as if bitten by a snake, 
the Baron sprang toward me and shouted: "You 
are a Russophile." "Yes, I am a friend of Russia. 



254 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

They are my racial brothers. If that is a crime, 
I ask to be placed at once before a court martial. 
Such courts martial are already working at full 
speed in the south. I have heard that fully 1,500 
persons have been put into the old dungeons of the 
mediaeval castle dominating the City of Ljubljana." 
"That is not true," said the Baron. *'0f course it 
is true," I said. "I had this news directly from 
a German judge who was sent to that city to 
investigate the cases. I ask, therefore, once more, 
to be sent south and placed before a court martial 
if I have committed a crime by travelling through 
Russia." "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs can- 
not ask to have you court martialed," answered 
the Baron, "you are too highly placed in the ser- 
vice and too well known abroad. Your execution 
would make too much of a stir abroad." 

I then asked him to be allowed to return to 
America, to my post in San Francisco, instead of 
going to Berlin. Then I went to my hotel, destroyed 
a part of my notes containing the impressions 
of my journey in Siberia, wrote out my resigna- 
tion, and brought it to the Ministry. There a 
friend of mine intervened and begged me to with- 
draw my resignation and to go to Berlin. I sus- 
pected that my bold conversation with Count 
Forgach had caused me all this trouble. I realized 
that to get out of this Austrian prison I had to act 
prudently. I therefore consented to remain in 
the service and go to Germany. On leaving the 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE ^55 

Foreign Office, I met Herr Von Nuber, Austro- 
Hungarian Consul General at New York, who was 
then on leave of absence. We went together into 
a cafe on the Kaerntner Strasse and our conversa- 
tion soon turned to the war. "I was all morning 
in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," Herr Von Nuber 
told me, "and got some very interesting news." 
In order to learn this news, I suppressed my feelings 
and appeared entirely in sympathy with the war 
against Serbia and Russia. I then said: "What 
Is really our purpose in invading Serbia .f^ " "We 
must dispose, once for all, of Serbia as a state and 
of the Serbian race," Herr Von Nuber said. "I 
was told in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that 
our aim in making war on Serbia is to crush the 
Serbian army and completely to annihilate it; this 
accomplished, we shall let loose Magyar bands in 
Serbia to whom we shall give the task of mur- 
dering the women and children of Serbia in order 
to make an end forever of the menace of a Greater 
Serbia." 

This important news was enough for me. It 
only confirmed what I had previously heard from 
other Austrian and Hungarian sources about our 
proposed civilizing mission in the Balkans. From 
what happened later it is known only too well 
that the plan of Austria-Hungary was carried out 
to the letter. The case of martyred Serbia is an 
analogue to that of Armenia. When I was in Tiflis, 
some three weeks before the war, I heard similar 



256 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

views expressed in regard to Armenia by a German 
Secretary of Legation who was then on his way 
to Teheran, Persia. In order to understand why 
Austria-Hungary had singled out Serbia and the 
Serbian people for destruction and why Germany 
had done the same in regard to Armenia, the 
strategical situation of both Serbia and Armenia 
must be considered. The strategical importance 
of Serbia is great because it lies across the great 
natural high road which connects the East and the 
West, Asia and Europe. The whole Balkan penin- 
sula is covered with a tangled mass of steep and 
inhospitable mountains which are very difficult 
to cross. The great commercial highway, Berlin- 
Bagdad, follows the broad valley of the Morava 
south from Belgrade toward Nish, where it branches 
off straight south to Salonica, while the other 
branch proceeds over easy mountains into the valley 
of the Maritza through Bulgarian territory toward 
Adrianople and thence to Constantinople. To 
push through to Salonica and Constantinople was 
our principal goal in the Balkans. Hence, we de- 
cided on the destruction of Serbia, as it lay in 
the path of our ambitions. In considering the 
geographical position it is to be noted that Armenia 
is like a wedge thrust into the heart of Asiatic 
Turkey, separating the tangled mountain ranges 
of Asia Minor from Asia proper. This gives Ar- 
menia its strategical importance. Just as Serbia 
bars the way from Europe into Asia, so does Ar- 



AUSTROGERMAN INTRIGUE 257 

menia stand across the way from Asia into Europe. 
Serbia and Armenia guard the approaches to Con- 
stantinople from the east and west respectively. 
Such being the strategical significance of Serbia 
and Armenia it can easily be imagined what an 
important role was reserved by history for their 
peoples. The geographical position of these two 
countries has quite naturally directed their history 
along parallel lines. Most of the European con- 
querors of Asia, as most of the Asiatic conquerors 
of Europe, have used the natural highways leading 
through these countries. 

August 18th, the name-day of the Emperor, and 
the day set for the annihilation of Serbia, had 
passed, and almost no war bulletins were given 
out in regard to the conduct of the campaign in the 
south. It happened that the day after I was in- 
vited to lunch by my friend the young and ener- 
getic Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce of 
Vienna, to whose lot it fell in the course of the war 
to place our industries on a war footing. While we 
were at table in one of the fashionable restaurants 
on the famous Kaerntner Ring he told me of two 
curious conversations he had had that very day: 
the one a telephone conversation with the Austrian 
Premier, Count Stuergkh, in regard to the food 
situation, during which he told the Count that 
the latter would certainly meet the fate of Count 
Latour (who was hanged to a lamp-post by the 
revolutionists in 1848). The other conversation 



358 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

was with the Lord Mayor of Vienna, during which 
the latter told him that our troops had taken up 
(on the Serbian front) "positions in the rear." I 
had a hard time to suppress my feelings at the joy- 
ous news that my Serbian brethren instead of being 
annihilated by the Austrians had actually beaten 
them. When after lunch we left the restaurant, I 
was surprised at the peculiar darkness of the streets 
although the sky was cloudless; but noticing crowds 
of people looking through smoked glasses at the 
sun, I remembered that there was a total eclipse 
of the sun. This seemed to me an omen of the 
eclipse of the old Danubian Empire, which had de- 
liberately plunged the world into a vast catastrophe. 
The same evening I left Vienna for Berlin firmly 
resolved that I should never set foot again in that 
city until the Hapsburgs had fallen and my Slav 
brethren who make up more than half of the pop- 
ulation of Austria-Hungary were liberated for ever 
from the yoke of their German-Magyar oppressors. 
In Berlin my position soon became intolerable. 
I sometimes failed to conceal my pro-Entente feel- 
ings, as for instance once in conversation with a 
volunteer worker at our office, the son of a mil- 
lionaire banker from Vienna, who wanted to de- 
nounce me at once to our Ambassador, but was pre- 
vented from doing so by one of my friends to whom 
he had confided his intentions. One day Prince 
Hohenlohe, our new Ambassador to Berlin, said 
to me: "Please be careful what you say- These 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 259 

Prussians are terribly scared that something may 
happen in Austria among our Slav subjects." 
During my stay in Berlin I came upon the trail 
of the Austro-German propaganda that had been 
set on foot in Italy, Rumania, and Turkey, to keep 
those countries out of the war, or to bring them 
into the war on our side. A high Hungarian 
official serving as a commercial attache in our 
embassy told me on his arrival from Vienna in the 
early days of October that our government had 
spent some eighty million francs in Rumania 
alone, and that an equal sum had been disbursed 
in Bulgaria, to say nothing of what had been 
distributed in Italy. As for Turkey, a volunteer 
worker whose son was in the employ of the 
Deutsche Bank in Berlin confided to me one day 
that he had just received a telegram from his son. 
"You know," he said, "he was sent to Constanti- 
nople with four million francs in gold for Enver 
Pasha." 

On many important phases of my stay in Berlin 
I must remain silent in order not to imperil certain 
people who were friendly to me. I watched the 
interminable movement of German troops, in the 
early part of the war, first to the region of the 
Mazurlan Lakes, then from the French front to the 
Galician battle-fields, going to the rescue of the de- 
feated Austrian armies. The chief news about the 
happenings at the front and about troop move- 
ments I received from our old surgeon, a Prussian 



260 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

staff-surgeon, who for some fifteen years had been 
connected with our office and who had numerous 
friends among the high officers at the front. In 
spite of the horrors of the war and the impossible 
Prussian atmosphere in which I had to Kve, there 
were many humorous scenes enacted at the office, 
especially in the countless war marriages which, 
among other duties, I had to perform for our sub- 
jects who were called to the colours. Amid the 
scenes of this tragi-comedy I met a beautiful young 

lady with a French name, Baroness D , who 

wanted to leave Germany but who was unable to do 
so not having a passport. She was suspected 
of being a spy. I risked my head in giving her a 
document that brought her safely across the 
frontier. 

In the middle of October, 1914, Baron Haymerle 
[Franz Freiherr von Haymerle], First Secretary 
of the Austro-Hungarian Embassy in Berlin, son 
of the well-known Austrian statesman, Baron 
Haymerle, told me during a conversation lasting 
two hours — on the good and bad fortunes of the 
war — that Austria-Hungary, greatly perturbed 
by the victorious march of the Russian armies 
in Galicia, had asked a revision of her agree- 
ments with Germany, and had accordingly entered 
into a new agreement as regards the war aims of 
both countries whereby Germany bound herself 
not only to help Austria-Hungary to drive the 
Russians out of Galicia, but also not to lay down 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 261 

arms until Kieff, the capital of the Ukraine, was 
conquered for Austria. Through these new stip- 
ulations Germany reaffirmed Austria's claims to 
the whole of the Ukraine, that is, the whole south- 
ern part of Russia, and declared also her determina- 
tion to complete the conquest and partition of 
Russia. 

These pourparlers marked the first revision of the 
war aims as they were laid down in the agreement 
concluded between Austria-Hungary and Germany 
prior to the war. To deprive the Slavs of the life- 
giving sea by pressing the Russians from the 
shores of the Baltic and Black seas was the under- 
lying idea of this first Teutonic partition of Russia. 
By the terms of this first agreement the whole 
northwestern part of Russia, that is, the Baltic 
provinces, including Petrograd, Russian Poland, 
and Lithuania, was to fall to the lot of Germany; 
while Austria, besides retaining her grip on Gali- 
cia, was to receive as her share of the war spoils the 
whole of the Ukraine, including also the old Kha- 
nat of Crimea, with the prospect of reviving all 
the aspirations of the Ukrainians to the region 
north of the Caucasus, and to the territory between 
the Caspian Sea and the Ural Mountains, far into 
the region of the Orenburg Cossacks. Possessing 
this and other highly important news, I realized 
the time had come for me to leave Germany before 
it was too late. I had discovered that a man by 
the name of Rosenthal, with whom I became ac- 



262 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

quainted through a German volunteer worker in 
our office, was watching my movements more at- 
tentively than seemed to me necessary. That my 
suspicions were well founded I learned nearly a year 
later, when I heard that Rosenthal, who claimed to 
be an American citizen, had been executed as a 
spy in the Tower of London, having been sent to 
England by the German Government to procure 
the British Admiralty plans. Rosenthal had told 
me that he was an American citizen, and a native 
of the East Side in New York. He always wore a 
little American flag in his button-hole, and spoke 
English perfectly. 

It was a Sunday morning, late in October, 1914, 
when I secretly left Berlin. Twenty-four hours 
later I was on Swiss soil — a free man. I pro- 
ceeded to Rome, where I lived in complete retire- 
ment for some time. On December 20, 1914, 
I sent in my resignation from my post as consul at 
San Francisco. I gave as the reason for my resig- 
nation that my Slav sympathies did not permit me 
longer to serve the Austro-Hungarian Government. 
Before my resignation was accepted by His Majesty 
I was approached at my hotel by Count CoUoredo- 
Mansfeld, who told me he came in the name of the 
Austro-Hungarian Ambassador to dissuade me 
from my intentions of leaving the foreign service 
of Austria-Hungary. When I remained deaf to all 
his entreaties and arguments, the Count finally 
came out with the full truth: *'If you dare to say 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 3&S 

or to do anything detrimental to the interests of 
Austria-Hungary after your resignation, you will 
pay dearly ; besides, it will involve your relatives at 
home." 

Seeing my determination not to be led into any 
shameful compromise, the Count at once assumed 
a more prudent and dignified attitude and said: 
"I admire you." A few days later I received a 
communication from Count Berchtold telling me 
that "His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty 
has with serene decision of January 27, 1915, most 
graciously condescended to approve of your re- 
quest to be relieved from the Civil Service." 

I never felt better in my life than on that day, 
when I was relieved from the oppression of Aus- 
trian official life. Having become a free man, I 
at once placed all my experience gained in the 
foreign service of Austria-Hungary, and the special 
knowledge which I had acquired during the war, 
at the service of the Allied cause. One thing I 
especially tried to impress upon the ambassadors 
of Russia and France was that the greatest danger 
for the Triple Entente lay in Sofia; for fully two 
months I endeavoured to make them understand 
the precarious position in which Russia and Serbia 
would be placed if the Entente should disregard 
the necessity of placating Bulgaria as quickly as 
possible. Later events proved that this warning 
was onlj'^ too well founded. Seeing that all my 
suggestions remained unheeded, I made a final 



264 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

attempt to warn the Allied Governments in a 
memorandum dated January 1, 1915, which I 
presented to the French and Russian ambassa- 
dors. In it I said in substance: "All roads lead 
to Rome. But the road to a sure and speedy 
victory for the Allies leads through Sofia. Re- 
construct the Balkan League; or at least do every- 
thing in your power to prevent Bulgaria from 
attacking Serbia." For fully two months I laboured 
with the French and Russians in Rome to convince 
them that this war involved Russia's very ex- 
istence, that Austria-Hungary was not fighting a 
defensive war but a war of conquest. My plead- 
ing was in vain. Seeing that the leading statesmen 
did not realize the danger which threatened them, 
I started, broken-hearted, for America. Here I 
emphasized even more the danger that was threat- 
ening the Allied cause. 

In the summer of 1915 I foretold the absolute 
annihilation of Serbia; but to my great sorrow my 
pet idea of the necessity of reconstructing the Bal- 
kan League to protect Serbia was never seriously 
considered by the Allied Powers. I started with 
new plans, when I saw that all my entreaties were 
in vain. I regarded all through 1915 and 1916 the 
recognition of the independence of Poland as an 
essential protective measure for Russia and the 
Allies, pointing out to the Allied diplomats that 
the granting of independence to Poland would rec- 
oncile immediately the Austrian Poles, the fiercest 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 265 

opponents of Russia, to the Allied cause. The 
Poles in conjunction with the Jugoslavs and the 
Czecho-Slovaks would have brought about the de- 
struction of the Dual Monarchy at an early date. 
Seeing that this also was in vain, I tried to impress 
upon the Allies the urgent necessity of giving at 
once binding promises for the liberation of all Slavs, 
which measure would have led all the Slav peoples 
of Austria-Hungary at once to give full support to 
the Allies. Nothing, however, was done until it 
was too late; that is, until Serbia and Russia were 
"bled white." 



CHAPTER XIV 

Mobilizing Half a Million Men in America 

how the austro-hungarian consulates sec- 
retly raised an army behind america's back 

4 MERICANS are familiar with the intrigues 
LjL of German and Austrian agents in the 
J. Ml United States after the outbreak of the 
World War. The activities of Count Von Bernstorff , 
the German Ambassador; Dr. Dumba, the Austro- 
Hungarian Ambassador; Captains Boy -Ed and 
Von Papen, revealed the widespread organization 
of Teutonic propaganda in America. What is 
not so well known is the extent of the prepara- 
tions made by the German and Austrian authori- 
ties in the years before the outbreak of the war 
to mobilize German and Austro-Hungarian sub- 
jects in the United States. 

During the First Balkan War in 1912 certain 
mysterious telegrams began to arrive at the offices of 
the German and Austro-Hungarian representatives 
in the United States. In these telegrams detailed in- 
structions were given concerning the steps to be taken 
for the mobilization of the great army of German 
and Austrian reservists living in the United States. 

266 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 207 

Austria alone had, according to the latest 
United States census, nearly two million subjects in 
the United States of America, not to mention the 
tens of thousands that had gone to Canada in 
recent years. In the year 1907 some three hundred 
and forty thousand subjects of Francis Joseph came 
to the shores of America. For the quick and ef- 
fective mobilization of these men, great care and 
minute planning was necessary. Arrangements 
had to be made for the concentration of the men 
scattered throughout the country at certain desig- 
nated centres; for bringing them by the quickest and 
cheapest routes to the Atlantic seaports; and, 
finally, for their transportation to their home ports. 

During the First Balkan War] the first orders 
were given to all the Austro-Hungarian foreign 
representatives to arrange with care lists of all 
the reservists known to reside in the different 
districts of the consulates. These orders were re- 
peated and elaborated during the Second Balkan 
War, which had taken such an unforeseen and un- 
favourable turn in spite of the high expectations 
of Austrian diplomacy. 

It must be noted here that it is the duty of every 
man who has served in the Austrian army to report 
to the Consul twenty -four hours after each change 
of domicile, his new address. It is therefore an easy 
matter to keep track of all military men even in a 
country where people are not forced to inform the 
police where they live. 



268 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

Orders were given by the Ministry of War care- 
fully to classify the men, in alphabetical order, 
into groups according to the year in which they 
were recruited. Furthermore, to separate the 
Linien troops from the Landwekr and these 
two classes from the Landsturm. After all this 
work had been completed and the lists thereof sent 
in — and this was done regularly — the foreign 
representatives of Austria-Hungary had to figure 
out carefully the expense of bringing each man and 
each small group of men from their widely sepa- 
rated places of work — some being in the backwoods 
of Oregon, others in the mines of Arizona or 
Nevada, others in Alaska, still others in Louisiana 
or Florida, and so on — to the nearest concentration 
points, where they were to be placed under the 
command of the highest ranking officer. 

In these figures had to be included the double 
pay {Kriegsloehnung) which the soldier was to 
receive from the time of mobilization for the entire 
trip from the place of work of each reservist to the 
first rallying centre; from there to New York as the 
chief rallying centre for most of the mobilized men; 
from New York to Trieste or Fiume, the two chief 
ports of Austria and Hungary respectively, and 
from these two points to the outfitting places of each 
man, designated in the military passports. It was 
even contemplated — ^this for the cases where suit- 
able persons were not available to take command 
of the various detachments gathered on the first 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 269 

mobilization order in the most important rallying 
centres of America — ^that special men should be 
sent out from the different consulates to such places 
to bring the men safely to New York. If necessary, 
officers of the various consulates were to be dis- 
patched for this purpose. The figures thus cal- 
culated for each district separately had to be sent to 
the Austro-Hungarian Embassy in Washington and 
from there to the Foreign Office in Vienna, to be in 
turn again transmitted to the Minister of War or 
the Minister for National Defence. Naturally all 
this was done with the greatest secrecy; all orders 
of this kind were given as "strictly reserved" 
{Streng Reservat). 

In addition to these preliminary matters, ar- 
rangements were made for the printing and distri- 
bution of "mobilization proclamations" which were 
to be sent to each reservist. The mobilization or- 
ders were printed by the Ministry of War in Vienna 
in its own secret printing shop and sent through 
the channels of the Foreign Office in Vienna and the 
Embassy in Washington by special courier to avoid 
their being opened and recognized by the United 
States Customs officials. Once in Washington the 
mobilization proclamations were distributed to the 
various offices by express. These proclamations 
were accompanied by strict orders to keep them 
secret and were placed by the consular officials in 
safe-deposit vaults. These documents were printed 
not only in German and Magyar, but also in the 



270 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

nine other languages that are spoken in Austria- 
Hungary and were delivered to us in 1912. 

Each consulate was, moreover, given minute 
instructions concerning the distribution of these 
proclamations and other details connected with the 
anticipated mobilization. Hundreds of thousands of 
envelopes had to be addressed in a few days; hun- 
dreds of thousands of mobilization orders had to be 
providedwith names and addresses, the various data 
of mobilization, and other necessary information such 
as the routes to be taken to the points of assembly. 
Furthermore, tickets had to be obtained from the 
various railroad offices to be sent to the men with 
the mobilization orders as it was not considered 
safe to send money to the reservists; and money 
or express orders had to be arranged for each man, 
providing him with the necessary means of suste- 
nance for the trip. 

The plan for the division of w^ork required for 
carrying out the mobilization orders in the short- 
est time possible was worked out by the Consulate 
General of Chicago and the Consulate of Cleveland 
and was then, by order of the Embassy in Washing- 
ton, adopted by all the consulates in the United 
States. The plan provided, in the greatest detail, for 
making the work of mobilization strictly mechani- 
cal and efficient; even the most petty regulations 
were made concerning the distribution of work 
among the clerks; what was to be undertaken 
first; how long they were to work on one line of 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 271 

orders and how long on another; which of the 
Consulate clerks should write the envelopes; who 
should fill out the mobilization orders; how the 
various officials were to relieve one another in the 
mobilization work to avoid exhaustion through too 
much over- work. 

Besides these military measures, precautions 
were taken by the Austro-Hungarian foreign repre- 
sentatives in America to prevent the outbreak of 
revolution in Austria-Hungary, when war should 
be declared. While the Austro-Hungarian Govern- 
ment rejoiced over the steady current of gold that 
was flowing from foreign countries, especially from 
America, to Austria-Hungary, in the form of the 
savings of the emigrants, it was in deadly fear of 
the golden current of free thought and ideas of 
political liberty which also poured from the great 
American Republic into old aristocratic Austria- 
Hungary. The oppressed races, especially the 
Slavs, which came to the shores of a free country 
like America, wanted to help their brethren at 
home to free themselves from political bondage. 
To keep the truth from the people at home, where 
the press was under the control of the Government 
censors, both Austria and Hungary deemed it nec- 
essary to establish a cordon guarding the Austro- 
Hungarian Empire from the contagion of the free 
thought of America. 

An order was issued by Count Berchtold, two 
years before the outbreak of the World War, to 



272 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

all Austro-Hungarian representatives In America to 
prepare "black lists" of all the Slav newspapers 
issued in foreign countries, with a proper classijBca- 
tion of "Anti- Austrian," "Anti-Hungarian," or 
"Anti-Monarchical." In these black lists the con- 
suls were required to make careful mention, not only 
of the political opinions which each paper professed, 
but also those of its editor. This paternal care went 
so far that the Viennese and Budapest governments 
wanted to be minutely informed as to where the 
editor was born, where his relatives were living, 
with whom he had connections at home, and when 
he expected to make a trip to Austria-Hungary to 
visit his relatives. These black lists were from 
time to time revised so as to be always up to date. 
Special reports about the movements of editors 
had also to be made to the Foreign Office at Vienna. 

As a second and more drastic measure a black 
list of all the Southern Slav patriots and sympa- 
thizers in the United States had to be prepared, in 
which special care was to be taken to indicate the 
political opinions of the black-listed men, with the 
names of all their relatives in Austria-Hungary and 
where they lived. Also for these black-listed per- 
sons the consuls had to give exact data for every 
voyage such persons proposed to make to Europe. 
Thirdly, the Foreign Office ordered its representa- 
tives to attach to the lists photographs of the men 
listed. 

Nearly all the newspapers, with the exception 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 273 

of those subsidized by the Austro-Himgarian 
Government, were entered on the black Hsts, thus 
losing the right of entry into the Austro-Hungarian 
Empire. Furthermore, the most prominent men 
among the Jugoslavs, despite the fact that they 
had long ceased to be citizens of Austria-Hungary, 
had their names and photographs placed in the 
Criminal Album of the Austro-Hungarian Govern- 
ment. 

I steadily refused to put a single man in my 
consular district, which comprised all the territory 
west of the Rocky Mountains as well as Alaska, 
on the black lists. So far as I know all the other 
consuls complied with the order. As soon as war 
against Serbia was declared, these lists were 
taken from the secret vaults and all the persons 
listed who were in Austria or Hungary were put 
into prison. As a result, numerous citizens of 
the United States, former subjects of Francis 
Joseph, who at the outbreak of the war were 
visiting the country of their birth, were arrested 
by the Austro-Hungarian authorities, and were 
released only after the most strenuous protests of 
the American Embassy in Vienna. 

No person who knew, as I did, of these detailed 
preparations for war which were made during the 
year 1912, could fail to be convinced of the deliber- 
ate purpose of the Austrian and German authorities 
to precipitate a great world cataclysm. 



CHAPTER XV 

The United States of Slavia 
a prerequisite for a united states of europe 

"I now most earnestly hope to see a genuine republican 
Russia, a democratic Russia, the United States of Russia, 
a democratic Federal Republic of Russia come out of the 
present chaos. The motto must be Justice for all and an 
abhorrence of class tyranny of every kind." — Theodore 
Roosevelt's last message to Russia, December 12, 1918. 

IN THE Treaty of Brest-Litovsk the Central 
Empires realized their fondest dream : the con- 
quest and partition of Russia. The subjuga- 
tion of the whole Slav race had become a fact. 
Great was the outcry throughout the world, and 
especially among Russia's Allies, against this ruth- 
less crime. 

But having ultimately overthrown on the battle- 
field the military might of the Central Empires — 
and to this overthrow Russia and the Slavs con- 
tributed half of the blood — ^liave not the Allies 
revoked the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk? True, but 
with what results? Has not one of the Allies — 
Japan — occupied half of Siberia, and geologically 
the richest part of it? And have not Russia's for- 

274 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 275 

mer Allies been guilty of shutting her off from all 
approaches to the sea, "to let her dream out her 
existence as an inland empire," as was Germany's 
desire? In other words, whether consciously or 
unconsciously, willingly or unwillingly, the Allies 
in effect have sanctioned and perpetuated the 
Germanic blockade of Russia which during the 
war had been so much more effective than the 
AlUed blockade of Germany. 

But by shutting off Russia from all approaches 
to the sea, and by erecting on the ruins of old 
Russia a series of small states with arbitrary 
frontiers, can peace be established in the East 
permanently or even for a number of years? If 
Russia is Balkanized, will the Russian and Balkan 
Slavs be able to play their historic r61e in the future: 
namely, that of shielding the Western nations and 
Western civilization from the inroads of Asiatic 
conquerors? Will they not rather be helpless! 

Where, then, lies the solution of the greatest 
problem the white race, and with it the whole of 
mankind, was ever confronted with; namely, to 
prevent the Balkanization of Europe, and a fu- 
ture world conflagration. 

The solution lies in a United States of Europe. 
Its main basis must be found in the recognition 
of the principle of the equality of the three main 
races which people Europe: Latins, Germans, and 
Slavs. The beginning of this United States of 
Europe should be a United States of Slavia, to 



276 THE INSIDE STORY OP 

extinguish in the East the very sparks of a future 
world war, and to erect instead a bulwark of Chris- 
tianity and Western civilization. This federation 
should serve as the connecting link between the 
Orient and Occident; the safe blending ground of 
European and Asiatic peoples and civilizations. 
Once the United States of Slavia, comprising all 
Slav peoples, and embracing in its membership, 
with equal rights, numerous Semitic and Mongol 
peoples who are inextricably linked with them, is 
firmly established, Europe will at last be in a po- 
sition to frame the Constitution of the United 
States of Europe. 

If the Western nations: Germany, France, Italy, 
and above all Great Britain, sincerely desire the 
peace of Europe and the world, they will whole- 
heartedly support the project for a United States of 
Slavia as a basis for a United States of Europe. 

To advance the idea of a United States of Slavia 
in Europe is no longer premature. The supreme 
moment of history to which all Slav nations have 
for centuries been looking forward as the hour of 
their liberation has, through the victory of the 
Allied nations, at last arrived. To-day the Slav 
IS free, whatever his particular name or nation may 
be; he brings forth new ideas, new philosophy, new 
views of the world; and the world is taking gradu- 
ally increasing interest in everything opening new 
horizons to Slav national life. 

In the foreground of all the modern tendencies 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 277 

of the various Slav peoples stands one which 
is almost as old as the Slav race itself, namely, 
the tendency to unite not only culturally, but also 
politically into one big federated state. That 
which for centuries has seemed a Utopia is to-day 
rapidly approaching the realm of practical politics. 

It is a matter of common knowledge that, up to 
the time of the World War, to the American public 
in general "Slavs" were a type of working people 
coming from somewhere in Hungary or southern 
Europe. Later, the American press identified 
Slavs with Russians and used the terms inter- 
changeably, usually speaking of them as "the hosts 
of the Czar." But as the war advanced the Amer- 
ican public gradually came to realize that Poles, 
Czecho-Slovaks, etc., form part of the great Slav 
race. As a matter of fact, the Slav race is itself 
a branch of the Indo- Aryan race, and consists of 
three main groups : the Western, the Eastern, and the 
Southern Slavs. The Western Slavs include Poles, 
Czecho-Slovaks, and the Slavs in Germany (i.e., the 
Serbs of Upper and Lower Lusatia and the Cassoubs 
and Slovince or Wends in West Prussia and Pomer- 
ania). The Eastern Slavs are the Russians whose 
southern branch goes by the name of the Ukrainians 
in the Ukraine, of Ruthenes in Galicia, Bukovina, 
and Hungary. Finally the Southern or Jugoslavs 
(Jug meaning south in the Slav language) include 
the Bulgars, Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. 

Each of these various Slav nations has its partic- 



278 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

ular language, which, however, is of one common 
Slav origin, so that wherever the Slavs meet they 
can understand one another. There are differences 
in idioms and vernaculars which make, for instance, 
Bulgarian differ from Slovene, etc. But it may 
safely be asserted in at least a general way that 
within a few decades the only recognized Slav 
languages, of the educated classes, will be Russian, 
Polish, Jugoslav, and Czecho-Slovak. A con- 
gress of Slav scientists, merchants, industrialists, 
statesmen, and publicists should be held m the near 
future to plan ways and means for the introduction 
of a common language for all the Slav peoples. 
Each Slav nationality should be represented by the 
same number of delegates at such a congress, and 
the common language should be adopted solely 
with a view to the interests of the whole Slav 
race. 

The Slavs greatly surpass other European races 
in numbers. According to the figures of Professor 
Niederle, which are somewhat unfavourable to the 
Slavs, there were 136,500,000 Slavs in 1900, while 
in 1916 their number was estimated by Professor 
Masaryk at 156,700,000. In 1900, the Russians 
were put at 94,000,000, and the other Slavs at 
42,000,000. The Russians, therefore, were more 
than twice as numerous as all the other Slav 
peoples together. Interspersed among the Slavs 
are smaller or greater groups of many other peoples 
of Semitic or Mongolian origin, forming with the 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 279 

Slavs one national unit and bound to disappear in 
time into the great Slav sea which stretches from 
middle Europe far into Asia, and to the distant 
shores of the Pacific Ocean. Inevitably then the 
Slav race will tend to surpass the western Euro- 
peans in numbers and importance. 

In one of its main aspects the World War was 
fought for the political and economic liberation 
of the Slavs, and it was left to America to speak 
the final word and do the final deeds in the great 
world cataclysm. The war itself, from a political 
standpoint, was first a consequence of the long 
delay of the Great Powers of Europe, in liberating 
the Balkan Slavs from the Turkish yoke; and, 
secondly, a consequence of the unwillingness of the 
Entente Powers to permit the Balkan Slavs to 
fall again under the domination of the Central 
Empires. Furthermore, the Czecho-Slovaks of 
Austria-Hungary, in the very heart of Europe, 
had to be liberated from the German-Magyar yoke. 
And finally, the crime of the iniquitous partition of 
Poland — by which a nation that once was the pride 
of Europe, the cradle of human rights, was held in 
bondage — cried out for undoing. 

Owing to the errors of European statesmen — com- 
mitted especially by Germany and Great Britain 
at the Congress of Vienna, in 1815, and at the Con- 
gress of Berlin, in 1878, which with all their fatal 
consequences led to this war — all the Slav nations, 
not even the Russians excepted, were gradually 



280 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

being again enslaved by the Pan-German-Magyar- 
Turkish bloc. 

It was particularly President Wilson who seemed 
to realize that only the liberation of the Slavs 
from German-Magyar-Turkish slavery, in what- 
ever form it existed, could bring a lasting peace 
to the world. Finally, all the belligerent nations 
of the Allies came to realize that only through the 
liberation of the Slavs could world peace be had. 
They saw that, otherwise, Europe would be a slum- 
bering volcano ready to burst forth again at any 
moment and bury under the melting lava of its 
passions all the nations of Europe, thus disrupting 
the world even more tragically than did even the 
World War. 

Consequently, toward the close of the war, the 
Allies centred their efforts to a great extent on 
the annihilation of the German-Magyar-Turkish 
supremacy over the Slavs with the result that new 
Slav states, to wit: Czecho-Slovak, Jugoslav, 
Bulgarian, Polish, and Russian, arose to new 
national life from the ruins of the short-lived 
Mittel-Europa. As yet, these states are not 
stable; their frontiers have not been drawn, and 
some time must probably elapse before this can 
be successfully accomplished. Even more human 
blood may have to be shed before this can be 
achieved at all. With all this, other great prob- 
lems have appeared on the troubled world horizon, 
like that of Russian bolshevism, the Jugoslav- 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 281 

Italian dispute, etc. While keeping all this in view, 
farsighted Americans should familiarize themselves 
with one great aim which the Slavs regard as the 
logical conclusion of all their historical and political 
traditions; namely, the establishment of a great 
Slav federation resembling that of the United 
States, which would insure their rights of nation- 
ality, language, economic independence, and, above 
all, their lasting freedom. 

There being in Europe only 70,000,000 Germans, 
45,000,000 Enghsh, less than 40,000,000 French, 
25,000,000 Spaniards, and 33,000,000 Italians, as 
against some 220,000,000 Slavs and other peoples 
inseparably associated with them, it is not in the 
least astonishing that a certain belief in the so- 
called Pan-Slav peril has arisen among the western 
European peoples. Still, these apprehensions lack 
justification for the simple reason that the phi- 
losophy and religion of the Slavs are widely differ- 
ent from those of Western civilization ; and that the 
Slavs in general are a war-hating and peace-loving 
people. Their uniting in one great federation 
would help to stabilize the peace of the world in- 
stead of endangering it. 

The economic advantage arising for America 
out of such a solution of the complex and ever- 
menacing European problem cannot be too much 
emphasized. American industry and trade would 
immensely profit as the newly created Slav federa- 
tion would be eager to conclude the most advan- 



282 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

tageous commercial treaties with her American sis- 
ter repubHc in order to throw off the German 
economic and poHtical yoke. America, by thus 
aiding the Slavs to secure permanent freedom, 
would win for herself permanent access to their 
immense European and Asiatic markets; would 
become their teacher and guide in the upbuild- 
ing of new industries in the Slav countries; in 
the developing of the limitless natural resources 
of the Caucasus, the Ural, and the Altai regions 
of eastern Siberia, the Amur region, and the 
Maritime Province, etc., as well as of the Balkans 
and Poland. America would thus have oppor- 
tunity to direct the development of the immense 
deposits of coal, iron, and gold, and the bound- 
less wheat-growing plains of the Slav countries. 
There are about eight million Slavs in America 
from whose ranks the necessary commercial, in- 
dustrial, and political agents could be recruited. 
No country ever had the opportunity to start 
such vast and widely embracing commercial and 
industrial activities as America has to-day among 
the Slav nations of Europe. 

The Americans of Slav origin will with enthusi- 
asm support American development of Slav coun- 
tries, thus aiding to establish a mutually helpful 
relationship between a great Slav federation and 
the great American federation. Tlie American 
Slav is fond of saying that "Slavia is his sister, but 
America his adopted mother.'* 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 283 

On many historical occasions, in meetings, in the 
press, and in national conventions — one of the fore- 
most of which was held during the All-Slav Expo- 
sition, in Prague, in 1848 — the Slavs have pledged 
themselves to help and to promote the idea of the 
independence of each of the Slav nations, and of 
the Slavs in general. To-day, the Slavs of Europe 
are planning a federation of Slav nations, not for 
the waging of future wars of vengeance, but for the 
preservation of their own and the world's peace. 

To-day, more than ever, the Slavs are profoundly 
convinced that only unity can save them from 
destruction; and unity means federation. This 
federation must begin with a federation of the 
Western Slavs and another of the Southern Slavs, 
with complete independence of all the member 
nations in their internal affairs. To these two 
federations should be added a federation of East- 
ern Slavs, i.e., of those states which have arisen 
in place of the former Russian Empire. For both 
Western Slavs (the Czecho-Slovaks and the Poles) 
and the Jugoslavs (Slovenes, Croats, Serbs, and 
Bulgars), are convinced that even if so united they 
will still need further support. This support can 
best be found in a union or confederation of all Slavs, 
that is in a union of the Western and Southern Slav 
federations with the Eastern Slavs, i.e., with Russia. 
Therefore, what the Slavs are striving for is, in 
the last analysis, the creation of a United States 
of Slavia on the basis of the Swiss Federation, 



284 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

or the federation of the United States of America, 
with each constituent state free to adopt its own 
form of government. 

To exclude Russia, Serbia, or Bulgaria from such 
a federation because of past differences would be, 
to say the least, very unwise. By such confedera- 
tion the immense eastern and southern Slav mar- 
kets would be thrown open to all the Slav nations, 
would quickly enrich them, and heal the terrible 
wounds inflicted upon them all by the war. 

All the hatreds of past centuries ever provoked 
and nourished by Austro-German intrigues will 
melt before the warmth of the sun of freedom. 
Hatred is a bad adviser in diplomacy. Hate never 
wins the sympathy or support of humanity. The 
Balkan Slavs, for instance, had the sympathy of 
America in their war of liberation from the Turk- 
ish yoke, but they lost it as soon as they began to 
fight among themselves. 

On January 3, 1919, President Wilson de- 
livered in Rome a very remarkable speech in which 
he said: "The great difficulty among such states 
as those of the Balkans has been that they were 
always accessible to secret influence; that they 
were being penetrated by intrigue of some sort or 
another; that north of them lay disturbed popula- 
tions which were held together not by sympathy 
and friendship, but by the coercive force of a 
military power. 

."There is only one thing that holds nations to- 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 285 

gether, if you exclude force, and that is friendship 
and good will. The only thing that binds men to- 
gether is friendship, and by the same token the only 
thing that binds nations together is friendship." 

This that was said of the Balkan Slavs may 
be said of all the Slavs. The German-Magyar- 
Turkish bloc, which so long held under its su- 
premacy and exploited the Slav race, spread a 
net of intrigue throughout the great Slav world, 
inciting one Slav people against another, thus 
artificially breaking them up into quarrelling frag- 
ments. Austria-Hungary maintained her precarious 
existence only by the ruthless application of the 
famous unofficial state maxim of the Hapsburgs: 
'' Divide et impera,"" The only remedy which can 
heal all the wrongs created by past intrigue is 
mutual sympathy, friendship, and justice. But 
these ideas are not new; they are, in fact, traditional 
among the Slavs. That an American president, 
as leader of the great American nation,has endorsed 
them is but a proof that the American and Slav 
souls are to-day vibrating with the same passion, the 
same deep desire for friendship, sympathy, and 
justice among the nations. 

In the great work "Slavdom," published in 
Prague by a score of prominent Slav public men. 
Dr. K. Kramarz, the founder of the new Slav 
movement, Neo-Slavism, while most warmly de- 
fending the Poles against the Russification in- 
augurated by the Czar's Government, says: "The 



286 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

Slavs do not intend to live for the conquest of or 
by the oppression of non-Slav nations; the more so 
then must we exclude the idea that any Slav nation 
should prosper at the expense of other Slav peoples 
or by making an unfair use of its political, cultural, 
or economic superiority. Suum cuique must be 
the first law of the Slav world." 

Justice, sympathy, and friendship among them- 
selves must therefore be the chief aim of the Slavs. 
As to their internal affairs, or interrelations, it is 
the unanimous opinion of the defenders of the new 
Slav idea of unity that each Slav nation has the 
right to govern herself; that she has the inalienable 
right to liberty of conscience, that is, religious 
liberty ; libertj^ for her own language, that is liberty 
in education, in speech, of the press; and liberty of 
administration in all her internal affairs. This 
Slav federation would oppose vigorously any at- 
tempt, for instance, at the Russification of the 
Poles, or Polonization of the Czecho-Slovaks, or 
vice versa, just as the Slavs have in the past opposed 
all attempts at the Germanizing of their kins- 
men. To express it differently: the place of every 
Slav nation inside this great Slav family would be 
that of "A daughter in her mother's house, a 
mistress in her own." This formula will insure 
to each Slav nation its distinct nationality and 
language and the right to its existence as a separate 
nation, until time and circumstances shall merge 
them in one organic whole. 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 287 

But the scarecrow of Russification is buried for- 
ever, because it was the Germans, and particularly 
the German Kaiser, who influenced the Czar and 
persuaded him to use oppressive methods against 
the Poles. 

In an exactly similar way must be viewed the 
national problems of the Balkan Slavs. There 
must be no Bulgarizing of Serbs, or Serbization of 
the Bulgars. No Slav nation should be permitted 
to force its nationality or language on any other. 
All enlightened Slav leaders must realize that only 
if they hold firmly together on grounds of justice 
and tolerance can they be successful in dealing with 
friends or foes. If they come in single file before 
the forum of the world they will make little im- 
pression. If, on the other hand, they march on to 
the scene in an unbroken phalanx, they are bound not 
only to make an impression, but to score a success. 

The Slavs must realize that "United we stand, 
divided we fall." Further, the Slavs must say to 
the world : " All for one and one for all." They must 
say aloud and in no uncertain terms that there can 
be no peace in the world until the Slavs, all of them, 
are liberated. They must make the world realize 
the meaning of the famous mot of Joseph de Mais- 
tre: "Bury a Slav aspiration, a Slav idea, under a 
fortress and that fortress will blow up." But their 
unification is the sine qua non to make the dip- 
lomats and the nations of the world respect them 
and prevent them from committing the blunder of 



288 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

dividing any Slav nation or putting it under a 
foreign yoke. 

The common affairs of the Slav Federation 
should comprise the army and navy, the customs 
service and diplomacy. Everything else should 
be managed by the various states composing the 
Union, in accordance with their local customs and 
desires. The common affairs must serve as a 
shield of protection against external enemies, and 
should repose in firm hands. 

The Slav Union, by adopting the principle of 
nationality, may do away with national disputes and 
leave no ground for friction. Where there is a 
majority of a given nationality in a given territory, 
the inhabitants of that particular community 
should be entitled to national schools, thus 
protecting their rights as a distinct national 
group. 

The only definition of the term "Slav" should be 
the speaking of a Slav tongue. Any other definition 
will fail to win the support of the Slavs, as it 
would fail to win the support of any modern 
nation. No nation, speaking a Slav language, be 
it Bulgarian, Russian, or Polish, may be excluded. 

THE TRANSITION AND THE DEFINITE PERIOD 

In uniting the Slovenes, Croats, Serbs, and 
Bulgars in the Jugoslav Federation; the Czechs, 
Slovaks, and Poles into the Western Slav Federa- 
tion, and all the Russians in the Eastern Slav 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 289 

Federation, there will of necessity be two periods 
through which the state-forming process will have 
to pass. The first, the period of transition : during 
which Poles must be governed by Poles, Czechs by 
Czechs, Slovaks by Slovaks, Slovenes by Slovenes, 
Croats by Croats, Serbs by Serbs, Bulgars by Bul- 
gars, and Russians by Russians, while there will be 
as many languages. This first period may last 
for one or two generations. 

When the second period arrives all the smaller 
Slav nationalities will have melted into one nation, 
which by mutual agreement among enlightened 
leaders will have been welded together by the use 
of a common literary language. 

There should be complete liberty of creed in all 
component states of the United States of Slavia; 
a strict separation of Church from State; above 
all, no such thing as religious control, or supremacy, 
should ever be permitted; such, for instance, as 
making Poland an exclusively Catholic state. 

No such a thing as a Catholic Slav nation does 
or can exist. Even Poland is not Catholic, because 
she has among her population a great number of ad- 
herents of other creeds. Poland, in her greatest 
period, when she was admired by everybody and by 
all nations of the world, stood for complete religious 
liberty. In the Czech and Slovak lands the people 
are more divided as to religion, but they consider 
themselves as absolutely united in spite of religious 
differences. 



200 THE INSIDE STORY OF 

As for the Southern Slavs, they are composed of 
the Orthodox, CathoHcs, Mohammedans, and Jews. 
Absolutely no distinction can be made between the 
people because of their espousal of any one of these 
religions. The Jews in Serbia have fought valiantly 
on the side of the Serbian Orthodox people, and 
have shown themselves worthy of the complete 
confidence which the Serbian Government wisely 
confided in them. The Jugoslavs must and will 
always condemn the former Austrian Government 
for creating animosities in the Southern Slav 
countries, especially in Bosnia, by instigating 
religious hatreds, by instituting in Bosnia a 
constitution based on religious differences, so that 
the local Parliament in Sarajevo was even elected 
on religious lines. The Jugoslavs discarded the 
idea of religious intolerance a long time ago, as they 
recognized in it a treacherous weapon of the Aus- 
trian Government deliberately devised to hold 
them in slavery. 

The capital of the United States of Slavia should 
be erected wherever in the view of the joint dele- 
gates it will best suit the common interests of the 
several states. Whether this be in Moscow, Kieff, 
Yalta, or Cracow, is quite immaterial. The federal 
capital of the Balkan Slavs should be similarly 
located. If necessary, a new city should be built, 
so situated as to meet the needs of the various 
peoples comprising the union. Also the capital of 
the Western Slav Federation should be located in 



AUSTRO-GERMAN INTRIGUE 291 

one of the smaller towns on the Polish-Slovak 
frontier rather than in a big city. Experience 
has shown that great industrial and commercial 
centres are not a fit environment for quiet legisla- 
tive and administrative work. 

While the Slavs are passing through the chaotic 
and possibly even turbulent and bloody period of 
transition from the old hopeless thraldom which 
they have so long suffered into this stable, peaceful, 
and contented condition they must ask their 
European and American friends to be patient with 
them and to remember that all the great, free states 
have had to grope their way upward from confu- 
sion and turbulence. Let them remember also 
that the Slav ideals are their ideals, and that as 
they achieved their aims so the Slavs shall achieve 
theirs, provided they are aided and not thwarted 
or neglected by the older and more powerful na- 
tions with whom they have fought in a victorious 
war against the would-be oppressors and exploiters 
of all mankind. 



APPENDIX 



APPENDIX 

PRELIMINARY PEACE CONFERENCE 

Report presented to the Preliminary Peace Con- 
ference by the Commission on the Responsibihty^ of 
the Authors'of the War and on Enforcement of Penalties. 

March 29, 1919. 
Commission on the Responsibility of the Authors 
of the War and on Enforcement of Penalties. 

Annex II.—Memorandum of Reservations by the 
Representatives of the United States to the Report of 
the Commission, April 4, 1919. 

(Signed) 

Robert Lansing 
James Brown Scott. 

"The conclusions reached by the Commission as to 
the responsibility of the authors of the war, with which 
the representatives of the United States agree, are 
thus stated: 

"The war was premeditated by the Central Powers, 
together with their allies, Turkey and Bulgaria, 
and was the result of acts deliberately committed 
in order to make it unavoidable. 
"Germany, in agreement with Austria-Hungary, 
deliberately worked to defeat all the many con- 

* Since this book was wTitten the ultimate confirmation of some of our 
fundamental contentions, contained in these extracts from this report of the 
Commission on the Responsibility of the Authors of the War, etc., has been 
made public. The Authors. 

295 



296 APPENDIX 

ciliatory proposals made by the Entente Powers 
and their repeated efforts to avoid war. 

"The American representatives are happy to declare 
that they not only concur in these conclusions, but 
also in the process of reasoning by which they are 
reached and justified. However, in addition to the 
evidence adduced by the Commission, based for the 
most part upon oflBcial memoranda issued by the various 
governments in justification of their respective at- 
titudes toward the Serbian question and the war 
which resulted because of the deliberate determination 
of Austria-Hungary and Germany to crush that gallant 
little country which blocked the way to the Dardanelles 
and to the realization of their larger ambitions, the 
American representatives call attention to four docu- 
ments, three of which have been made known by His 
Excellency Milenko R. Vesnitch, Serbian Minister at 
Paris. Of the three, the first is reproduced for the 
first time, and two of the others were only published 
during the sessions of the Commission. 

"The first of these documents is a report of Von 
Wiesner, the Austro-Hungarian agent sent to Sarajevo 
to investigate the assassination at that place on June 
28, 1914, of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to 
the Austro-Hungarian throne, and the Duchess of 
Hohenberg, his morganatic wife. 

"The material portion of this report, in the form of a 
telegram, is as follows: 

Herr von Wiesner, to the Foreign Ministry, Vienna. 

Sarajevo, July 13, 19H, 1.10 'p.m. 
Cognizance on the part of the Serbian Government, participa- 
tion in the murderous assault, or in its preparation, and supplying 



APPENDIX 297 

the weapons, proved by nothing, nor even to be suspected. On^the 
contrary there are indications which cause this to be rejected.* 

"The second is likewise a telegram, dated Berlin, 
July 25, 1914, from Count Szoegyeny-Marieh, Austro- 
Hungarian Ambassador at Berlin, to the Minister of 
Foreign Affairs at Vienna, and reads as follows; 

Here it is generaUy taken for granted that in case of a possible 
refusal on the part of Serbia, our immediate declaration of war will 
be coincident with military operations. 

Delay in beginning military operations is here considered as a 
great danger because of the intervention of other Powers. 

We are urgently advised to proceed at once and to confront the 
world with a. fait accompli.^ 

"The third, likewise a telegram in cipher, marked 
strictly confidential, and dated Berlin, July 27, 1914, 
two days after the Serbian reply to the Austro-Hungarian 
ultimatum and the day before the Austro-Hungarian 
declaration of war upon that devoted kingdom, was 
from the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador at Berlm 
to the Minister of Foreign Affairs at Vienna. The 
material portion of this document is as follows: 

The Secretary of State informed me very definitely and in the 
strictest confidence that m the near future possible proposals for 

*HeTr V. Wiesner an Miniaterium des Aeussern in Wien. 

Sarajevo, IS, Juli 191i, 1.10 p.m. 
Mitwissenschaft serbischer Regierung. Leitung an Attentat oder dessen Vorbereitung 
und Bestellung der WaBen. durch nichts erwiessen oder auch nur zu vermuten. fcs bestehen 
vielmehr Anhaltepunkte, dies als ausgeschlossen anzusehen. 
^OrafStoegvenyanMiniiterdeaAeuBserninWien. 

^ Berlin, 25. JtUi 19U. 

Hier wird allgemein vorausgesetzt. dass auf eventuelle abweiaende Antwort Serbians sofort 
unsere Kriegserklarung verbunden mit kriegerischen OperaUonen erfolgen werde. 

Man sieht hier in jeder Verzbgerung des Beginnes der kriegerischen Operat.onen grosse 
Gefahr betreffs Einmischung anderer Mfichte. 

Man rat uns dringendst sofort vorzugehen iind die Welt vor em fait accompli zu stellen. 



298 APPENDIX 

mediation on the part of England would be brought to Your Ex- 
cellency's knowledge by the German Government. 

The German Government gives its most binding assurance that 
it does not in any way associate itself with the proposals: on the con- 
trary, it is absolutely opposed to their consideration and only trans- 
mits them in compliance with the English request.* 

"Of the English propositions, to which reference 
is made in the above telegram, the following may be 
quoted, which, under date July 30, 1914, Sir Edward 
Grey, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, telegraphed 
to Sir Edward Goschen, British Ambassador at Berlin : 

If the peace of Europe can be preserved, and the present crisis 
safely passed, my own endeavour will be to promote some arrange- 
ment to which Germany could be a party, by which she could be 
assured that no aggressive or hostile policy would be pursued against 
her or her allies by France, Russia, and ourselves, jointly or sepa- 
rately.! 

"While comment upon these telegrams would only 
tend to weaken their force and effect, it may neverthe- 
less be observed that the last of them was dated two 
days before the declaration of war by Germany against 
Russia, which might have been prevented had not 
Germany, flushed with the hope of certain victory and 
of the fruits of conquest, determined to force the war." 



'Graf Szoegyeny an Ministerium des Aeussern in Wien. 

(307, Strcng vertraulieh.) Berlin, S7. Juli 19U- 

StaatssekretSr erklarte mir in streng vertraulicher Form sehr entschieden, dass in der 
nficbsten Zeit eventuelle Vermittlungsvorsehlfige Englands durch die deutsche Regierung zur 
Kenntnis Euer Exc. gebracht wUrden. 

Die deutsche Regierung versicbere auf das Biindigste. dass sie sich in keiner Weise mil den 
Vorschldgen ideniifiziere, sogar entschieden gegen deren Beriieksichtigung sei, und dieselben 
nur, um der englischen Bitte Rechnung zu tragen, weitergebe. 

tBritiah Parliamentary Papers, "Miscellaneous, No. 10 (1915)," "Collected Documents 
Relating to the Outbreak of the European War," p. 78. 



BERLIN WANTED WAR ON SERBIA, 
BERCHTOLD TOLD 

RESENTS CRITICISM AND INSISTS GERMAN ENVOY IN- 
TIMATED MILITARY ACTION WAS SOUGHT 

By Karl H. von Wiegand 

Herald and Examiner Staff Correspondent 

Berlin, Oct. 8. 1919— I have just received an impor- 
tant telegram from Count Von Berchtold who, as Foreign 
Minister of Austria-Hungary, formulated and sent the 
ultimatum to Serbia which brought about the World War. 
The Count, who is in Berne, Switzerland, answers a 
message from me in which I asked him four questions 
touching on as many vital points raised against him in 
the revelation of the secret records of the Vienna Foreign 
Office and the accompanymg commentaries by the 
compiler of the recent Red Book, Doctor Gooss. 

In these disclosures Berchtold was represented more 
or less as the alleged arch-conspirator that forced the 
great war. The former Austrian Foreign Mmister now 
informs me in his telegram that he was led to beheve 
that Berlin wanted military action agamst Serbia and 
that he feared Germany would drop Austria as an ally 
if the latter did not take aggressive action. 

ADMITS ALTERING RECORDS 

He admits having made alterations in the records 
and gives his reasons therefor. He states he advised 

299 



SOO APPENDIX 

Berlin in time of the contents of the ultimatum to 
Serbia. 

I was with Count Von Berchtold in the fourth Isonzo 
battle near Gorizia, where he served as a cavalry cap- 
tain attached to the staff of General Wurm as a dispatch 
courier. I also knew him in Vienna. I, therefore, 
telegraphed him asking whether he could give answers 
to the following four questions: 

1. Why he had made alterations in the original 
drafts of records of cabinet meetings in Vienna. 

2. Whether the German Ambassador at Vienna, 
Von Tschirschky, had given him the impression that 
Berlin wanted war with Serbia. 

3. Whether it was true that he had not given Von 
Tschirscliky the textual contents of the ultimatum to 
Serbia. 

4. Whether it was true that he had not given Berlin 
any answer to Sir Edward [now Viscount] Grey's last 
proposal for mediation which was forwarded to the 
Austrian Government by Berlin. 

Here is the Count's telegram to me in answer to these 
questions : 

Wiegand, Berlin. 

The following is in answer to your questions. I am making an 
exception to meet your special wishes: 

1 — The subsequent changes and corrections in the protocol 
drafts were made because the recorder, not being a stenographer, 
made notes in longhand, but not verbatim. As a result of this 
incorrect versions occurred, even whole passages being omitted. 
This made necessary the subsequent corrections and supplementary 
notes. 

2 — Repeated conversations and interviews I had with Ambassador 
Von Tschirschky could create no other impression than that his 
[the German] Government expected warlike action on our part 



APPENDIX 301 

against Serbia. Especially a conversation I had with him during 
the early hall of July convinced me that if we did not show this 
time that we were in earnest, then on the next occasion Berlin not 
only would not support us but would in fact "orient" itself in some 
ohter direction. 

What that would have meant for us, in view of the ethnographic 
composition of the Dual Monarchy and the territorial aspirations 
of our neighbour states need not be explained. 

3 — ^Tschirschky was informed about the material points in the 
ultimatum to Serbia before the final editing of the note, and the 
textual contents were given to him two days before the Belgrade 
demarche. 

4 — We accepted, in principle. Grey's last mediation proposal, 
with two reservations which the military [advisers] found necessary. 
In view of vital national interests of the Dual Monarchy being in- 
volved therein, this acceptance signified a great sacrifice for us, as in 
mediation even an ally must be calculated upon as a possible op- 
ponent. 

The delay in answering Grey's proposal was due to the fact that 
the answer was not determined by us until July 30th, and the min- 
isterial council, as far as I recall, could not convene until the follow- 
ing day because of the absence of Tisza [Count Stephen Tisza, 
Hungarian Premier, later assassinated]. 

(Signed) Bebchtold.* 

'From Chicago Herald and Examiner, October 10, 1919., 



THE END 




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